FC Zurich will play host to two time winners Borussia Mönchengladbach in the second round of the Europa League Group stage fixtures on Thursday at 20:05GMT at the Letzigrund stadium in Zurich. Mönchengladbach travel to Switzerland hoping to build on the point they earned on match day one against Villarreal while Zurich will be hoping to get off the mark following a 3-2 defeat to Cypriot based Apollon Limassol.

Starting with the visitors, Borussia Mönchengladbach, "die Fohlen" are the most experienced side in the group. They are also one of the most experienced in the tournament itself with two victories during their golden era in the 1970's. 

At the helm, is former FC Zurich coach Lucien Favre. Favre has guided his boys to an ongoing ten match unbeaten run in all competitions this term. Favre labelled his four years at Zurich as coach as a "dream" when speaking to UEFA ahead of the game. Also returning to the Letzigrund is attacking midfielder Raffael who played under the guidance of Favre in Switzerland between 2005-07.

At time of publishing, Gladbach are sitting pretty in second place in the Bundesliga behind current champions Bayern Munchen. 

In their last five Gladbach have had some superb results, In particular the 4-1 battering of FC Schalke. In their last five they've won three and drew two.

Predicted lineup: 

Sommer; Dominguez, Jantschke, Stranzl, Wendt; Kramer, Xhaka; Hahn, Raffael, Herrmann; Kruse

Look out for: Raffael, Andre Hahn and Max Kruse.

Now onto FC Zurich. Unlike compatriots FC Basel or even at a push BSC Young Boys, FCZ are widely unknown amongst the footballing world nowadays. After all they're not the biggest club in Switzerland nor are they competing in European competitions year on year. Furthermore they have only ever progressed to the round of 16 in the tournament back in the 1998-99 edition. You would expect the game to be a total blowout but don't let the Swiss side fool you.

They currently occupy second place in the Swiss Super League behind the aforementioned FC Basel after ten games. 53 year old, Urs Meier runs the show in Zurich and has done so since 2012 after thriving coaching in the youth ranks of the club.

The Zurich squad isn't exactly full of "household" names so to speak and their most recognised player outside of Switzerland - mostly to those who play EA Sports' video game franchise FIFA - is Yassine Chikhaoui. Chikhaoui's virtual character has been likened to none other than Zlatan Ibrahimovic's in recent times due to similar height and skill level. In real life, they do share those attributes but there's an undeniably huge wealth of ability separating the pair. 

The last five games have been anything but consistent with two wins, two losses and a draw all muddled up between the five. Their most impressive result of the last five was with the same scoreline Gladbach beat Schalke by ( 4-1 in case you've forgotten ) against Sion.

Predicted lineup: 

Da Costa; P. Koch, Kecojevic, Djimsiti, Kukeli, Yapi Yapo; Rikan, Chiumiento, Chermiti; Etoundi, Chikhaoui

Look out for: Chikhaoui, Chiumiento and Chermiti.

A win for either side could potentially see them go top, depending on the result of Villarreal-Apollon Limassol. Gladbach on paper have the better chance and recent form across all competitions prove that it should be a win for the Germans.

Prediction: FC Zurich 0-2 Borussia Mönchengladbach