It is all to play for in Thursday's Europa League clash between Rapid Vienna and Molde as the two sides battle it out for a second-place finish in Group B.

Rapid will join Arsenal in the last 32 if they win 1-0 or by a margin of two goals or more. As for Molde, they are through if they avoid defeat or if they score in a one-goal loss.

Match preview

Rapid Vienna's Ercan Kara celebrates scoring against Dundalk in the Europa League on November 26, 2020 © Reuters

The permutations may be slightly complicated, but both sides will be grateful to be in with a shot of reaching the knockout stages.

Rapid have lost three of their five matches so far, picking up their only victories in home and away wins over whipping boys Dundalk.

Molde, meanwhile, have won three out of five, only dropping points in their home and away games with already-qualified Arsenal.

That includes a 1-0 win over Rapid when the sides met in Norway on October 29 - Ohi Omoijuanfo scoring the only goal of the match a little over an hour in.

Molde's Martin Ellingsen scores against Dundalk in the Europa League on December 3, 2020 © Reuters

The onus is therefore on the home side to pick up the victory they need to qualify. However, they have lost all three of their Europa League matches against Norwegian opposition.

Molde, who have won three in a row in all competitions, are aiming to progress past the group stage for just the second time, having previously done so in 2015-16.

While a draw would be enough for Erling Moe's men, they could become the first Norwegian side to win as many as four matches in a single European campaign with three points here.

Rapid are not exactly in the best form, winning two of their last six games overall, and they have also been victorious in only one of their last three home European games.

Rapid Vienna Europa League form: LLWWL
Rapid Vienna form (all competitions): DLWDLW

Molde Europa League form: WWLLW
Molde form (all competitions): DWLWWW

Team News

Molde's Ola Brynhildsen in action with Dundalk's John Mountney and Andy Boyle in the Europa League on October 22, 2020 © Reuters

Rapid have a number of injury absentees, with Dejan Petrovic, Dejan Ljubicic, Dalibor Velimirovic, Christopher Dibon and Philipp Schobesberger all sidelined.

Koya Kitagawa scored the Austrian side's consolation in last week's 4-1 loss to Arsenal and may be in line for a first start in this season's competition.

Martin Bjornbak and Kristoffer Haraldseid are Molde's confirmed absentees for the clash at the Allianz Stadion.

Given the convincing manner of the victory over Dundalk last time out, Moe is expected to keep changes to a minimum.

Rapid Vienna possible starting lineup:
Strebinger; Sonnleitner, Hofmann, Greiml; Arase, Demir, Schuster, Ritzmaier, Ullmann; Alar, Kitagawa

Molde possible starting lineup:
Linde; Wingo, Gregersen, Sinyan, Risa; Aursnes, Eikrem, Ellingsen; Hestad, Omoijuanfo, Knudtzon

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We say: Rapid Vienna 1-1 Molde

Both sides know exactly what is required to join Arsenal in the last 32 of the competition. Molde have been the more consistent side so far and, with a point enough to see them through, we are backing the Norwegian visitors to pick up the result that they need.

Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a double chance bet on a home win or an away win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Rapid Vienna win with a probability of 43.62%. A win for Molde had a probability of 32.82% and a draw had a probability of 23.6%.

The most likely scoreline for a Rapid Vienna win was 2-1 with a probability of 9%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (7.43%) and 2-0 (6.26%). The likeliest Molde win was 1-2 (7.66%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (10.66%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 6.5% likelihood.