Four successive wins in the Europa League and a place in the round of 32. That was Thursday. Today, Friday 4th November 2011, Anderlecht coach Ariël Jacobs looked ahead to Sunday’s match against Cercle Bruges. The Purple & White will head for West-Flanders with a selection of 20 players and will take on Cercle as part of the 13th matchday of the Jupiler Pro League.

Dieumerci Mbokani is still absent from the selection, but the striker’s injury is progressing favourably. He will undergo a check-up echography. Ondrej Mazuch, too, is doing well. The Czech defender is still training individually, but he should be able to resume group training within two or three weeks’ time. Reynaldo (small muscle rip) and Samuel (strain) are out.

Anderlecht are hitting a winning streak and, according to the coach, this is because they have a group with many qualities. "There is a lot of competition in the group and you can feel that, during training as well", the T1 said. "That means the coach has some issues as to which players he should select and it also results in a few disappointed players, but that’s the way it should be in a group."

The coach also looked back on their brilliant streak in the Europa League. "Had they told us this before the start of the competition, we wouldn’t have believed it", the coach said. "I was convinced that the group had more well matched teams than last year but I was clearly mistaken. We took a raging start with two wins in a row, but I do admit that we had luck on our side in Moscow. But okay, that’s football", he continued. "The team can claim credit for having qualified for the round of 32 after four successive wins and we can celebrate that, but we shouldn’t forget that it’s only November, prizes are only handed out in May... Sunday’s match on Cercle will be a new match, a new challenge", he concluded.

Cercle Bruges, meanwhile, have obtained a nice shared second place on the league table. "We know that Cercle will be highly motivated", Jacobs said. "Thanks to their current position on the league table, our opponents probably don’t feel a lot of pressure. Cercle have a good team, they are simply continuing last season’s positive streak. If they manage to keep that up, I don’t see why they shouldn’t be able to hold on to their place among the first six teams", he continued. "But Anderlecht have to be there, always. We can’t afford to pick our games. Winning is normal, a draw is a revolt and losing means the end of the world..."

Selection : Badibanga, Cordier, Deschacht, De Sutter, Fernando, Gillet, Iakovenko, Jovanovic, Juhasz, Kanu, Kljestan, Kouyate, Marecek, Odoi, Praet, Proto, Safari, Schollen, Suarez, Wasilewski