PSV primed to pounce on last-32 berth

The top two in Group K meet on Matchday 6, with PSV Eindhoven knowing victory against AC Sparta Praha would confirm their place in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 and top spot in the section.

• If Sparta win and the night's other game, between FC København and CFR 1907 Cluj, ends in a draw, both PSV and their Czech guests will be certain of progressing.

Previous meetings
• A late goal saw PSV hold Sparta to a 2-2 draw in Prague in the sides' first meeting on Matchday 1. PSV's only home game against Czech opposition saw them defeat FC Zlín 1-0 back in 1970. Sparta's three previous trips to the Netherlands netted them two wins and – most recently – a 2-1 defeat at AFC Ajax.

Match background
• PSV remain unbeaten in eight European games this season, but the 2-2 draw with Sparta is the only one in which they have scored more than once. Their remaining results comprise six 1-0 wins and Matchday 4's 1-1 draw at København.

• All four of PSV's European home games this season have been won 1-0.

• Whenever Sparta score away from home, things tend to go well for them. In their last 12 European fixtures on the road, they have won every away match in which they have scored, and they have not registered in a defeat since they lost 3-1 at SV Zulte Waregem in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup group stage.

Team facts
• Back in the Netherlands after a one-season absence, PSV boss Fred Rutten spent his entire playing career and much of his time as a coach at FC Twente. He previously worked at PSV with the youth team and as assistant to Hiddink in his second spell at the club, from 2002-06.

• Sparta coach Jozef Chovanec represented the team for most of his playing career, and was appointed trainer for the fourth time in 2009, having also been serving as the club's chairman. He has also coached the Czech national team, leading them to UEFA EURO 2000™ without dropping a point in qualifying.

• Chovanec has plenty of fond memories of PSV, having played for the club as a midfielder from 1988-91, winning two Dutch titles, the first under Guus Hiddink and the second under the late Sir Bobby Robson.

• Rutten and Chovanec played against each other on two occasions when the latter was at PSV: a 1-1 draw in Eindhoven in March 1990, followed by a 3-1 win for Chovanec and his team-mates at the same venue in May 1991.

• Sparta have worn red (or maroon) shirts ever since 1906, when one of the club committee members returned from a trip to London with a set of Arsenal FC tops.

• PSV visit CFR on Matchday 6, with Sparta at home to København on the same day, 16 December.