Obolon – Metallist 1925. Forecast and announcement for the match of the championship of Ukraine

On Friday, December 12, the match of the sixteenth round of the Ukrainian Premier Football League will be held in Kyiv at the Obolon Arena stadium, in which Obolon from Kyiv and Metalist 1925 from Kharkiv will play. The starting whistle of referee Ihor Paschal from Kherson will sound at 18:00 Kyiv time.

Obolon
The difficult and ambiguous first round in the performance of Kyiv “Obolon” was left behind. And it cannot be said that Oleksandr Antonenko’s team can be dissatisfied with their own performance. Due to the lack of stability of the results and low efficiency – yes, here the “brewers” are openly grazing the rear, even in comparison with the teams from the relegation zone. However, the easily recognizable pattern of the club’s game is definitely present, and everything else is a matter of resources, which is very difficult to correct on the football field in our realities.

The beginning of the campaign and a few weeks from the end of September to the middle of October are the two most successful periods, when “Obolon” managed to steadily score points and not lose at least a series of matches. At other times, the results came spontaneously. Just as a strategically important victory over “Epicenter” (2:1) could be changed by a defeat by “Shakhtar” (0:6). Or, as was the case in history with a draw in the capital derby against Dynamo (2:2), defeats against Kryvbas (1:2) and Karpaty (0:2), which significantly hampered Antonenko’s team’s progress up the standings.

However, the Brewers are currently above the relegation zone with a three-point lead over the closest outsiders, Kudrovka. A dangerous reserve in the context of the last round before the winter break, since, in case of victory of Vasyl Baranov’s team against “Alexandria”, they will bypass “Obolon” if they lose to “Metalist 1925”. However, earlier in the history of this couple’s relationship, the people of Kharkiv always experienced difficulties in achieving results. And yet, it will be difficult for the capital club without Valery Dubko, who was disqualified for a series of yellow cards, in the center of defense. Another central defender, Dmytro Semenov, has just served his suspension.

Metalist 1925
The limited personnel resources of Kharkiv “Metalista 1925” should not be told one more time, since with Mladen Bartulovich, any lost personnel unit in the starting line-up risks becoming an irreparable loss and directly affecting the result, as was the case with the disqualification of Ivan Kalyuzhny for the game against “Zora” (1:3), for example. And there are actually quite a lot of such bottlenecks in the “yellow and blue”.

Therefore, the football calendar year is gradually coming to an end for the players, but the management of the Kharkiv residents is just starting to get actively involved in the work. The transfer market around Metalist 1925 will be very lively, as the team needs reinforcements in the second part of the season and it is already clear that the available squad of players will not be enough for Bartulović to fight for places in the European Cups. Although the management of the club did not openly declare such tasks for this particular campaign, contrary to the bold expectations of the fans.

And the Kharkiv players themselves can now only cautiously look at that area of ​​the standings, because, to begin with, it would be good for them to agree on the completion of the match against “Veres” from Rivne, which could not be completed last weekend in Zhytomyr due to problems with the power supply. Therefore, the first round in our championship is considered only formally completed. And for “Metalist 1925” these three potential points were of decisive importance – this way it would be possible to overtake “Dynamo”, while “Polyssia” itself was at arm’s length. And now, with 21 points, Bartulovich’s team is closer to “Obolon” than to the European Cup zone in the table.

Meeting history
The football paths of “Oboloni” and “Metalista 1925” previously crossed 11 times. There is an advantage of the Kyiv residents in terms of the number of victories – 5 successful matches against 3 of the Kharkiv residents, while another 3 meetings ended in a draw. The difference in goals is 10:8. The biggest victory of “Oboloni” – 3:0 (2020), “Metalista 1925” – 2:0 (2018, 2025). The last time the teams met was at the end of August this year, when at the “Centralny” stadium in Zhytomyr, goals by Peter Itodo and Christian Mba ensured the victory of the “yellow and blue” in the Cup (2:0).

Themis
The main referee of the upcoming game will be 43-year-old Ihor Paschal from Kherson, who has 101 matches in the “elite” division on his account. Vitaly Sukhin and Denys Marchenko will be the side referees, and Maksym Kozyryatskyi will serve as the reserve referee. The VAR system led by Roman Blavatsky and Dmytro Zaporozhenko will be present at the match. Paschal has the experience of holding matches with the participation of “Obolon” – 3 wins, 1 draw and 7 losses, while he crossed paths with “Metalist 1925” 3 times – 2 wins, 1 loss.

Bookmakers GGBET evaluate the chances of the teams with very decent coefficients: 3.53 for the home team and 2.08 for the Kharkiv team. And which forecast to choose is up to you. Play with the best odds, get instant payouts and support your favorite team with us.

Estimated compositions
“Obolon”: Fedorivskyi – Shevchenko, Semenov, Kurko, Pryimak, Ilyin – Prokopenko, Chekh, Medinskyi – Ustymenko, Sukhanov.

“Metalist 1925”: Varakuta – Martyniuk, Shabanov, E. Pavlyuk, Krupsky – Zabergdzha, Kalyuzhny, Lytvynenko – Rashitsa, Mba, Antyukh.