First takes on second in Group D of the Europa Conference League as FC Koln welcome Partizan to RheinEnergieStadion for their round three tie on Thursday night.
Koln have picked up four points from their two Conference League matches in Group D and currently sit top of the group two points above their Thursday visitors, Partizan, who sit second having picked up two points from their opening matches.
The Bundesliga outfits drew 1-1 with Nice at away on the opening night before edging Slovacko 4-2 at home on the second night. Since then they drew 1-1 with Bochum in the Bundesliga, before beating Borussia Dortmund 3-2 at home last weekend.
They will now be confident heading into the fixture as they hope to pick up another-maximum-points in the Conference League to boost their claim to the top place in the group.
Meanwhile Partizan drew 3-3 with Slovacko at away on the opening night and then followed that up with 1-1 draw with Nice at home last time in the Conference League. They are level on points with the French side Nice, and a win on Thursday could see them climb to the top of the group.
Since their previous tie Conference League, Partizan have played three matches winning two in the Serbian Super Lig and lost one in the Serbian Cup. They are coming off a 4-1 win over Vojvodina Novi Sad and they will look to build on it as they seek their first victory in the Europa Conference League.
Koln vs Partizan head to head
This will be the first encounter between the two sides in the recent history. Take a look at their previous encounters;
Home
- Koln 3-2 Dortmund
- Bochum 1-1 Koln
- Koln 4-2 Slovacko
- Koln 0-1 Union Berlin
- Nice 1-1 Koln
Away
- Partizan 4-1 Novi Sad
- Sremska Mitrovica 2-0 Partizan
- Radnik 0-2 Partizan
- Partizan 1-1 Nice
- Partizan 6-0 Mladost Lucani
Koln team news
Koln will be without Timo Horn, Tim Lemperle, Sebastian Andersson, Julian Chabot and Mathias Olesen due to injury, while Jan Thielmann could miss out through illness.
Partizan team news
Partizan will without Danilo Pantic due to injury, while Kristijan Belic will miss through suspension.
Prediction and odds
- FC Koln win
- Both sides to score
- Goals over 2.5
