Inter v Shakhtar Donetsk: Champions League preview, predicted line-ups & team news

Inter have played two Champions League games and lost both, which is not what anybody had pencilled in for a side of their standing.

The new league-stage format is unforgiving, with the top eight going straight to the last 16 and the next sixteen heading for the play-offs.

A third match without a win would leave Inter looking nervously at the cut line before the campaign has properly started.

Shakhtar Donetsk sit 11th on four points, so they have far more to protect than the hosts do.

It is a game Inter need to win, and the rest of the league phase gets a lot harder if they don't.

Inter's problems are at the back. They lost 2-1 away at Real Madrid in September, then went down 4-3 at home to Club Brugge on 13 October.

That is six goals conceded in two games, and their expected goals against figure of 3.6 suggests it was no fluke.

Going forward they have been fine, averaging 25.5 shots a game and 58.5 per cent possession, which makes the defeats all the more frustrating.

Shakhtar Donetsk opened with a 1-1 draw away at PSV Eindhoven, then beat AEK Athens 3-1 at home last Wednesday.

That is four goals scored and two conceded, and they are the only side in this fixture yet to lose.

They are far less busy than Inter in attack, averaging 10 shots a game, but they have been clinical with them.

Inter have no obvious reason to experiment.

Two defeats make this a game for the strongest side available, and the injury list is already doing enough rotating on their behalf.

Shakhtar will fancy their chances of banking another useful result, and a side with four points from two games has little incentive to tinker with a winning formula.

The visitors have a thinner squad than the hosts, with several players missing, so selection is as much about necessity as choice.

They are more likely to repeat the shape that beat AEK than to ring wholesale changes.

Inter have used a 3-5-2 in their two games, and we expect Provedel in goal behind a back three of Akanji, Bisseck and Bastoni.

Dimarco and Luis Henrique look the likeliest wing-backs, with Barella, Çalhanoğlu and Mkhitaryan in midfield and Thuram and Esposito up front.

Shakhtar have mixed between a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-1-4-1, and a 4-2-3-1 looks likeliest: Riznyk; Vinícius Tobias, Bondar, Matvienko, Karavaev; Marlon Gomes, Kryskiv; Gabriel Carvalho, Alisson Santana, Luca Meirelles; Kauã Elias.

Kick-off is at 20:00 BST on Wednesday 21 October, and the game is shown on TNT Sports where selected.

This is a league-stage fixture rather than a two-legged tie, so there is no extra time and no penalty shoot-out. If it is level after 90 minutes, the draw stands and each side takes a point.