Statistics do not lie for Mavuba

Rio Mavuba is expecting a fiery atmosphere at Genoa CFC's Luigi Ferraris Stadium, yet the LOSC Lille Métropole captain remains confident the French side possess sufficient quality and experience to maintain their excellent UEFA Europa League form. Rudi Garcia's charges will be all but assured of a place in the last 32 with two group games to spare should they seal a second successive triumph against the Rossoblù.

Mavuba warning
With emphatic victories over SK Slavia Praha (5-1) and Genoa (3-0) along with a creditable draw against Valencia CF (1-1), the Ligue 1 outfit have taken command of a strong section. Mavuba feels Lille deserve their spot atop Group B but refuses to take qualification for granted. "For the moment we're the best team in the group – just look at the table," the midfielder told uefa.com. "Nothing has been decided yet, though. We still have to go to Genoa. We saw how much noise their fans made here with only a small following so over there the atmosphere will be hot. If we manage to avoid defeat, it will be a big step towards qualification."

'Perfect night'
Despite the vocal away fans at the Stade Lille Métropole a fortnight ago, Les Dogues rarely looked in danger as goals from Ludovic Obraniak, Robert Vittek and Eden Hazard earned three more points. "We played a good game," reflected French international Mavuba, whose midfield partnership with Florent Balmont and Yohan Cabaye continues to flourish. "We had some problems in the first ten minutes, but we made the necessary amendments, defended well, then scored the opener five minutes before half-time, which did us a lot of good. From then on we were strong and efficient up front. We scored goals and didn't give them many opportunities. It was almost a perfect night."

Free-scoring Lille
Scoring in Europe has not been a problem for Lille – they have netted 19 in just seven matches – yet a lack of cutting edge has seen them struggle domestically, Saturday's 2-0 win at Grenoble Foot 38 unable to lift them out of the bottom six. Mavuba, however, is convinced the club's European form will soon transfer to Ligue 1, saying: "The Europa League is giving us confidence. Even if we miss chances, we still manage to score, whereas in Ligue 1 we're having more difficulties," explained the 25-year-old. "But we're playing well in the league games that follow European games. Hopefully the confidence we're gaining will help us."