Thursday 22nd October 2026
Lech Poznań v Sunderland – Europa League
Poznań Stadium – Kick-Off: 17:45
Match Coverage
TV/Stream: Full live match coverage is available via TNT Sports.
Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online)
It’ll no doubt still be a party over in Poland as our European adventure takes us to Poznań, but it’s getting a little bit weird.
If we want a bit of escapism from the Premier League at the moment, then it’s a perfect tonic. Looking at the Europa League table at the moment, we are one of ten sides currently sitting on maximum points. This puts us above the likes
of upcoming opponents AC Milan and on the same points as Juventus.
If we remind ourselves of the journey we’ve been on, then that’s a reason to celebrate. But the fact that we’ve hit rock bottom of the Premier League following the type of performance we saw at Bournemouth does cast a slight shadow over the evening.
If we’d had a different start to the bread and butter of the domestic league, then there would be different conversations. With points on the board, we might be a little happier to play a stronger side and take a risk or two with players carrying knocks. But Sunday already looms large over this fixture and the decisions made around it. Should we pick up an injury or two and be weakened at the weekend, questions will inevitably be asked.
On the other hand, with the make-up of the European squad list and the lack of depth beyond that, there may potentially be a worse-case scenario than being knocked out, and that’s the additional fixtures a play-off would bring.
As I mentioned earlier, none of these conversations may have entered the equation had we been more awake from the off at Ipswich, taken our early chances at Brentford, taken something from one of the big boys, come out focused after the break against Brighton, or actually turned up at all at Bournemouth. But they have.
We’ll enjoy it because we don’t know when we’ll be here again, but tonight’s fixture will be viewed through the lens of asking how it can help us on Sunday.
As we’ve said, our next adventure takes us to Poland and its fifth-largest city, Poznań. We’re taking on their football team, Lech Poznań, who are currently second in the Polish top division, the Ekstraklasa.
They are ten-time champions of the Polish league, and they’ve won it three times in the last five seasons. Their record in Europe hasn’t been great, but they did reach the quarter-finals of the Europa Conference League a few years ago. Alongside regaining their title, you would think progression in this competition would be high on their to-do list.
However, they find themselves bottom of the Europa League table after coming through the hardships of the qualifying rounds and a play-off. Their two games in the league stage have both ended in 4-0 defeats, the first away to Crystal Palace and the second in their own back yard against Leverkusen.
On paper, if we have ambitions in the competition, then we should be picking up maximum points, but as we know, it doesn’t work out like that.
The betting…
The bookies have the Lads at 4/6 to win the game, while Poznan are 18/5 for the victory, and the draw is 29/10.
