Jose Mourinho’s quest for Europa League glory continues on Thursday night as his Roma side host Slavia Prague, with kick-off at 20:00. Below we’ve previewed the match and picked out a couple of selections for you to consider. 

Team news

Mourinho has a whole host of injury issues to contend with this midweek. Several key players, including Paulo Dybala, Loreno Pellegrini, Renato Sanches, Tammy Abraham and Marash Kumbulla are out of contention, while Chris Smalling faces a late fitness test. The former England man has a muscle injury, while Dominik Pech and Petr Sevcik are likely to miss this one for Slavia Prague. 

Match odds

Roma are 7/10 favourites to win this match on home soil, while a draw can be backed at 5/2. Visitors Slavia Prague are 10/3 for the win, while BTTS is 8/11. Over 2.5 goals is available at 4/5, while under 2.5 goals is 10/11.

Draw and BTTS @ 18/5

Roma may be favourites heading into this one, but despite their good form, the Italian giants they may not find life easy. Mourinho’s men have won their last four on the trot, but they come up against a Slavia Prague team that have won their two Europa League matches so far by an aggregate score of 8-0. 

Those results have put them top of the group, while Roma are level with them with six points. Both teams are in an excellent position to qualify, and Slavia Prague will fancy their chances of taking something from the Stadio Olimpico.

Their 6-0 win over Sheriff was extremely impressive and they have now remarkably scored in 18 of their last 19 matches in all competitions. They are certainly a better side than the odds give them credit for, and going toe-to-toe with Roma shouldn’t be an issue, especially considering the injuries Mourinho is having to contend with. Given their goalscoring prowess, adding BTTS Yes to the draw gives us a healthy price of 18/5. 

Romelu Lukaku to score anytime @ 6/5

Like any good love story, reuniting with an old flame has worked wonderfully for both Romelu Lukaku and Mourinho. His former boss at Manchester United has managed to get the best out of him so far this season, and he’s now scored seven goals in nine games in all competitions so far, as well as two in two in the Europa League. 

Having scored in both Europa League matches so far, there’s no reason why Lukaku can’t find the net here, albeit against tougher opposition. Slavia Prague are a wonderful outfit, but they are yet to come up against a striker of Lukaku’s quality. I believe he can keep up this impressive goalscoring run by finding the net again.