Nations League team news and prediction: Poland vs Netherlands

There is plenty to play for when Poland host the Netherlands on Wednesday evening as the group stage of the 2020/21 UEFA Nations League group stage reaches its conclusion.

Ahead of Group 1's crunch match, we have all your need-to-know matchday information in one place, including the match permutations, team news and predicted XIs.

When is kick off?
Wednesday 18th November, 19:45 GMT
Where is the match?
Silesian Stadium, Chorzow (Poland)
Where can I watch it?
Sky Sports Football (Red Button) 

What is at stake?

Poland are currently third in Group 1 but still have an outside shot of claiming top spot. The home side are two points behind current leaders Italy and need to beat the Netherlands and hope Bosnia also defeat Italy.

The Netherlands ended a three-game winless streak in Group 1 with a 3-1 win over Bosnia over the weekend to stay in contention for the Nations League finals. In order to qualify for the last four for the second time in a row, they need to beat Poland away from home and hope Italy fail to beat bottom side Bosnia.

Team News

Poland will be without a minimum of five players from their original squad after Jacek Goralski was sent off 30 minutes after coming on as a second half substitute in their 2-0 defat to Italy on Sunday. The home side do at least recover Leeds midfielder Mateusz Klich from suspension and he is expected back in midfield, while Napoli's Piotr Zielinski will also push for a start.

Ryan Babel has not travelled with the Netherlands squad after returning an inconclusive COVID-19 test last week. It means Frank de Boer, who wants to bring in fresh legs on Wednesday, is without nine players from his original squad. Quincy Promes, Joel Veltman and Donny van de Beek could earn recalls here.

Probable XIs

Poland (4411): Szczesny; Kedziora, Glik, Bednarek, Reca; Szymanski, Klich, Krychowiak, Jozwiak; Zielinski; Lewandowski

Netherlands (433): Krul; Dumfries, Veltman, De Vrij, Aanholt; Wijnaldum, De Jong, Van de Beek; Berghuis, Depay, Promes

Key Battle: Robert Lewandowski vs Memphis Depay

Poland are desperate to find ways to ease the burden on star striker Robert Lewandowski, but there is no getting away from the fact he remains their star man by a distance. As one of the best No.9s in the world, it's hard not to try and feed everything through the Bayern Munich ace. He has two goals in three Nations League appearances so far this season, on top of his 11-goal haul in the Bundesliga and two-goal salvo in the Champions League.

His opposite number on the night will be Netherlands forward Memphis Depay, who is expected to move centrally against Poland with Luuk de Jong dropping to the bench. The Lyon ace has generally been in superb form this season despite missing out on a move to Barcelona in the summer. Against Bosnia he ended a six-game drought for the national team but prior to that he scored 14 goals in 20 appearances for the Netherlands.

Prediction: Poland 1-1 Netherlands