Slovakia v Ukraine background

Slovakia will endeavour to keep Ukraine at arm's length in UEFA EURO 2016 Group C and complete their push for an automatic qualifying place.

• Having lost their 100% record – and the group leadership – to Spain on Saturday, the Slovaks will secure qualification if they can prevail in Zilina on Tuesday and complete the double over Ukraine. The visitors are at least already guaranteed a play-off berth after beating Belarus at the weekend, yet will displace Slovakia from the top two should they win here.

• Denys Garmash is suspended after his red card against Belarus on Saturday. The following players are a yellow card away from a ban: Yevgen Khacheridi, Olexandr Kucher, Ruslan Rotan, Sergiy Sydorchuk (Ukraine) and Norbert Gyomber (Slovakia). Martin Škrtel and Juraj Kucka return from suspension.

Previous meetings
• Róbert Mak's cool finish earned Slovakia a 1-0 win in Kyiv in the two sides' opening Group C game – their first competitive encounter.

• The teams had previously met in three friendlies, with Ukraine's record W1 D2 L0 (W0 D1 L0 at home – W0 D1 L0 in Slovakia). Their victory was a 3-2 success in Limassol, Cyprus, on 10 February 2009.

Form guide
• Slovakia are on a three-match winning streak in competitive home qualifiers – their best run since they set a record of four straight qualifying home victories between October 2007 and June 2009.

• Ukraine won their first two Group C away fixtures without conceding, but lost 1-0 in Spain on their most recent away assignment.

Trivia and links
• In four encounters with Slovakia in UEFA age-group competition games, Ukraine's record is W2 D0 L2. The most recent of those matches was a March 2015 UEFA European Under-17 Championship tie played in Germany, Slovakia winning 2-1.

• The six meetings between the nations' clubs in UEFA competition have left both countries with identical records: W2 D2 L2, though the Ukrainian teams have a 7-4 advantage in terms of goals scored.