Sunderland are preparing to face Dinamo Zagreb on matchday four of the Europa League this week.

The league phase of Sunderland’s first ever Europa League campaign will reach its midway point when they Black Cats host Dinamo Zagreb at the Stadium of Light on Thursday night.

Regis Le Bris’ side have made a solid start by claiming seven points from a home game with Dutch Cup winners AZ Alkmaar and away days at Portuguese second tier side Torreense and Polish league champions Lech Poznan. Those results mean Sunderland are sitting just outside of the top eight and they are now well placed to challenge for automatic qualification into the last 16. The Black Cats are also one of ten sides yet to suffer a defeat in this season’s competition and five of those can still boast perfect records with Benfica, Bournemouth, Bayer Leverkusen, Ferencvaros and Olympiakos all sitting on nine points ahead of matchday four.

Sunderland are preparing to face Dinamo Zagreb. | Getty Images.

placeholder image — Sunderland are preparing to face Dinamo Zagreb. | Getty Images.

Union Saint-Gilloise, Juventus, Besiktas, Sunderland and Rennes are the other five sides that are unbeaten - although the latter have just five points after the French outfit claimed draws against Sturm Graz and Juve either side of a 2-1 home win against OFI Crete. The third Premier League club in this season’s Europa League, Crystal Palace, have experienced mixed fortunes in the competition after a comprehensive 4-0 home win against Lech Poznan on matchday one was followed by a defeat at French side Lyon and a battling 2-2 draw with Besiktas.

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There are some big name clubs that are yet to get going in the Europa League with Italian giants AC Milan earning just one win from their first three games after they were beaten by Bournemouth and Benfica. Scottish champions Celtic have fallen to defeats against Celta Vigo, Ferencvaros and Benfica on the first three matchdays and Ligue 1 club Marseille are also without a point after they were beaten by Sturm Graz, Besiktas and Olympiakos and that means both clubs are sitting alongside Viktoria Plzen and Ararat Armenia as the only four sides yet to get off the mark in this season’s competition.

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