Following a narrow escape against Dacia Chisinau, Chornomorets Odessa will be looking to show some improvement when they take on Crvena Zvezda in the 3rd qualifying round.

The former European Cup winners have been far from impressive against IBV of Iceland, but they are certainly not without chances in this match.

Chornomorets Odessa have been on the rise ever since they returned to the top flight in 2011, finishing the league campaign in ninth and sixth position respectively.

However, it was their domestic cup campaign that saw the team qualify for Europe, with the Sailors doing well to reach the final before losing 3-0 to Shakhtar Donetsk.

The squad have since been heavily reinforced, seeing as how they signed Olexiy Gai from Shakhtar and Aleksey Antonov from Dnipro, among other players.

With that in mind, the Sailors did not have the best of starts to the season, losing the Super Cup match before picking up just three points from four league games.

However, having shown a lot of potential in those matches, while eliminating Dacia in the Europa League second qualifying round, it is hardly surprising they are 1.75 (3/4) favourites with Sportingbet to defeat Crvena Zvezda at their Stadion Chornomorets.

After resting a number of regular starters in the 1-0 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk, boss Roman Grigorchuk is set to field his strongest line-up in this match.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-2): Bezotosny – Kutas, Berger, Fontanello, Anderson – Dja Djedje, Kovalchuk, Gai, Riera – Samodin, Antonov.

Despite reviving their title bid following the arrival of coach Sa Pinto, Crvena Zvezda had to settle for another trophyless season, with their bitter rivals Partizan winning the sixth league title in a row.

Given the dismal financial situation at the club, nobody believed the Serbian giants would be able to build a decent squad ahead of the new season, but club chiefs proved the doubters wrong with some excellent signings.

Former Dynamo Kiev playmaker Milos Ninkovic rejected several lucrative offers to sign for his boyhood club, while the likes of Mijailovic, Martinovic, Omega, Pecnik, Kovacevic and few others followed.

Seeing as how the team have yet to properly gel, especially with some players arriving late for pre-season training, it was hardly surprising to see the team struggle against IBV of Iceland, but there were some positives as well.

Having had another week to train together, the players should have developed some sort of understanding, although there are no doubts they face an uphill task in Odessa.

Crvena Zvezda may not be able to defeat their opponents in Ukraine, but they look a good bet to score at least one goal, at odds of 1.55 (5/9) offered at Sportingbet.

New signings Omega Roberts and Novak Martinovic are in contention for starting places, but Miguel Araujo, Stefan Mihajlovic and Darko Lazovic are unavailable. Key defender Nikola Mijailovic returns to the side.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Bajkovic – Vesovic, Omega, Martinovic, Mijailovic – Kovacevic, Milijas – Kasalica, Ninkovic, Pecnik – Dauda.

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