Anderlecht v St-Étienne background

Anderlecht and St-Étienne are both assured of a place in the round of 32 but meet in Brussels with top spot in Group B still up for grabs.

• Anderlecht will be assured of first place with a draw; St-Étienne require victory to head the section.

Previous meetings
• St-Étienne struck late to snatch a 1-1 draw in France when the sides met for the first time on matchday two.

• Anderlecht's 21 games against French sides have ended W7 D10 L4 (W4 D4 L2 at home).

• In their sole previous encounter with Belgian opponents, St-Étienne drew 1-1 at Club Brugge in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage.

Form guide
• Unbeaten in seven UEFA Europa League games this season (W5 D2), Anderlecht have averaged four goals per game in their three home fixtures in the 2016/17 competition.

• St-Étienne have yet to lose in nine European games this season (W4 D5, with three of those wins coming on the road).

• Les Verts are draw specialists in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stages – their record in 21 games so far is: W6 D13 L2.

• Anderlecht have now made it through all six of their UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.

• St-Étienne have now qualified in three of their four UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group campaigns.

Links and trivia
• The journey from St-Etienne to Brussels is around 600km, due north.

• Anderlecht's Dennis Appiah and St-Étienne's Stéphane Ruffier (2010–11) and Kévin Malcuit (2010–12) were club-mates at Monaco.

• Anderlecht's on-loan Uroš Spajić (Toulouse 2013–) and Sofiane Hanni (Nantes 2009–11) also have Ligue 1 experience.

• Anderlecht's Łukasz Teodorczyk is one of three players to have scored five goals in the group stage this season, along with Zenit's Giuliano and Roma's Edin Džeko. Aritz Aduriz is the top scorer in this season's competition with six.

• St-Étienne's Florentin Pogba is the older brother of Paul Pogba, who is also competing in this season's group stage with Manchester United.

The coaches
• Capped once by Switzerland, René Weiler is in his first season as Anderlecht coach having spent his first two years abroad with Nürnberg in Germany from 2014–16. The one-time defender established his coaching reputation in his home country with Schaffhausen and Aarau.

• St-Étienne coach since 2009, Christophe Galtier steered Les Verts to French League Cup success in 2012/13. He worked as assistant to Alain Perrin at St-Étienne prior to getting the top job. Originally a defender, he started his playing career at home-town club Marseille.

Chapecoense commemoration
Teams taking part in all of the matchday six UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League fixtures will observe a minute's silence to pay respect to the victims of last week's air disaster involving the Chapecoense team and accompanying delegation.

The Brazilian club lost most of their players and coaching staff in the accident, which occurred in Colombia, where Chapecoense were due to play the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final against Atlético Nacional.

"European football is united in expressing its deepest sympathy to Chapecoense, the Brazilian Football Confederation [CBF], CONMEBOL and the families of all the victims," said UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin. "This tragedy has shaken the world of football, and we would like to send our support to all of those affected by it."