- Home form: FC Obolon Kiev have won two, drawn eight and lost four of their 14 home Premier League matches this season.
- Away form: LNZ Cherkasy have won nine, drawn two and lost just two of their 13 away Premier League contests this term.
- Last meeting: LNZ Cherkasy won the last meeting between the sides 3-0 at home in the Ukrainian Premier League five months ago.
LNZ look to break Obolon’s hoodoo
LNZ Cherkasy’s high-risk, high-reward brand of pressing soccer has been a key factor in propelling them to third in the Premier League 2025/2026 table with 54 points from 27 games. FC Obolon Kiev are 11th in the table with 28 points from the same number of matches, and the clubs bring very different approaches to this Sunday’s clash.
LNZ’s approach of high-intensity pressing and rapid vertical transitions has paid off in several high-profile results in the top division, but Vitaliy Ponomarov’s team have been unable to win in their last two away trips to Obolon Kiev. The last of those encounters was the Ukrainian Premier League fixture five months ago when Ponomarov’s side ran out 3-0 winners.
Obolon have a much more pragmatic style, with Aleksandr Antonenko preferring to set up a compact defense and allow his side to hit on the counter. Antonenko has instilled a pragmatic outlook since taking the reins in June 2025, but his side have been struggling to find consistency of late.
- Obolon have won one, drawn two and lost two of their last five, with the latest trio of games seeing them draw 2-2 at home to Epitsentr Kamianets-Podilskyi, lose 3-1 away to Shakhtar Donetsk and bounce back with a 2-0 away win over FC Kolos Kovalivka.
LNZ’s pressing should unsettle Obolon
Form and momentum
LNZ’s 2-0 home victory over SC Poltava was followed by a disappointing 1-0 away defeat to Kudrivka, which leaves them with an identical record of one win, three draws and one defeat from their last five games. The visitors will be looking for a win here to keep the pressure on those teams above them in the league, while Obolon will be seeking to distance themselves from the teams below them.
Match outlook & predictions
A match between two such contrasting teams should favour the visitors who are more able to impose their style on the game and create more chances as a result. LNZ score 1.62 goals per game on average away from home, but only concede 0.54 in the Premier League 2025/2026.
Obolon, on the other hand, average just 0.93 goals scored per home league game in 2025/2026 and have conceded 1.79 per game on their home turf. We’re going with LNZ to pull this one off and do so with a clean sheet, so ‘Both Teams to Score - No’ at 1.68 and ‘Over 2.5 goals’ at 2.05.
We’re backing an away win in this fixture at 1.56 because LNZ’s away record is superior to Obolon Kiev’s home record and, while a high-scoring game is likely, we think the away side’s ability to stay compact and solid at the back will keep their opponents at bay.
- LNZ’s Mark Assinor is their most dangerous attacker with eight league goals in 25 appearances, while Taras Liakh has scored twice in Obolon Kiev’s last five matches.
- Ustymenko is a more trusted foil up front, however, with six league goals in 24 games.
