Lokomotiv Moskva v Sheriff background

Lokomotiv Moskva are the only team in UEFA Europa League Group F to have registered a win so far. Three further points at home to a Sheriff side who have drawn their opening three matches would enable the Russian club to take a giant step towards the knockout phase.

Previous meetings
• The teams' first UEFA encounter, in Tiraspol on matchday three, ended all-square at 1-1 after Sheriff striker Zihur Babiganda scored his team's first goal of the group stage to cancel out Anton Miranchuk's 17th-minute strike.

• The two sides locked horns in the semi-finals of the 2003 Commonwealth of Independent States Cup – a competition for the champions of the former Soviet nations. Sheriff won 1-0 although Lokomotiv fielded a reserve team, with the seniors away from Moscow on a training camp.

• All five of Sheriff's official European games against Russian teams have resulted in draws.

Form guide
• Lokomotiv are unbeaten in four European games (W1 D3).

• Sheriff are on a run of six consecutive draws in the UEFA Europa League, five of them this season. They have never won an away fixture in any round of this competition – a sequence lasting 16 games (D9 L7).

• Lokomotiv are contesting the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League group stage for a fifth time and have failed just once to reach the round of 32, finishing bottom of their group in 2007/08.

• Moldovan champions Sheriff featured in the 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2013/14 UEFA Europa League group stages, but they are yet to appear in the spring phase of a UEFA competition.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Tiraspol to Moscow is just over 1,100km.

• Lokomotiv's Manuel Fernandes scored the second hat-trick of the 2017/18 group stage, hitting three in the opening 17 minutes against Zlín on matchday two. It was the fifth fastest hat-trick in the UEFA Europa League, group stage to final.

• Sheriff defender Vitalie Bordian played for Lokomotiv from 2002–04 – albeit without making a senior appearance – and later returned to Russia with Volga Nizhny Novgorod (2012–14).

• On-loan Lokomotiv forward Éder struck the extra-time winning goal for Portugal in the UEFA EURO 2016 final against France.

• Suspended for next match if booked: Ante Kulušić (Sheriff).

The coaches
• Yuri Semin took charge of Lokomotiv for a fourth time in August 2016, having lifted the club's only two Russian titles during his second stint from 1992–2005. He also played for the club, from 1975–77, and coached Dynamo Kyiv to the 2008/09 Ukrainian championship.

• In charge of Sheriff since October 2016, Roberto Bordin is best known in his native Italy for his long career as a midfielder, which took in spells at Atalanta, Napoli and Piacenza. He was 40 when he finally hung up his boots at Spezia in 2005.