Ukrainian Premier League week 18

The Ukrainian Premier League started back up after the winter break, giving good reason to celebrate. With only Dynamo Kyiv and Metalist Kharkiv set to play the season, the race before mighty Dynamo is extremely close with only only three points separating four clubs.

Shakhtar Donetsk defeated Illichivets 2-1. Olexiy Hai gave Shakhtar the lead twenty-two minutes after the start when he turned in Vyacheslav Shevchuk pass from the six yard box. Nikolay Kashevsky canceled out the lead seven minutes after the break when he headed in Dmytro Vorobey's long range cross. However with eight minutes remaining Darijo Srna curling free-kick gave Shakhtar the 2-1 victory.



Metalurh Donetsk and Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih played to a 1-1 draw. Metalurh took lead when Serhiy Danylovsky scored eleven minutes after the break but Ruslan Kostyshyn leveled with nine minutes remaining. Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih finished one man down as Olexander Hrytsai was shown his second yellow with five minutes remaining.

Metalurh Zaporizhya defeated Zorya Luhansk 2-1. Parid Xhihani gave Zorya Luhansk the lead at the half hour mark but Serhiy Siliuk leveled before the break. Dmytro Nevmyvaka found the winner for the home side four minutes into injury time.

Vorskla Poltava defeated Tavriya Simferopol 1-0 as Andriy Boiko scored eleven minutes after the break.

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and relegation threatened Lviv played to a 1-1 draw. Ihor Il'kiv snatch the lead for Lviv ten minutes in but Vitaliy Lysytsky equalized the match three minutes after the break.

Arsenal defeatd Kharkiv 1-0 as Ionut Mazilu scored the lone goal twelve minutes after the opening whistle.

Karpaty defeated 3–0 Chornomorets with Serhiy Kuznetsov scoring at the sixteenth minute and then seven minutes after the hour. Denys Kozhanov made it 3-0 eleven minutes before the whistle after Aleksandar Trišović was sent off with his second yellow card.

Ukrainian Premier League	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA	P
Dynamo Kyiv	17	14	1	2	42	11	43
Metalist Kharkiv	17	11	4	2	29	12	37
Vorskla Poltava	18	10	6	2	20	10	36
Metalurh Donetsk	18	10	4	4	24	13	34
Shakhtar Donetsk	18	9	7	2	27	13	34
Metalurh Zaporizhya	18	8	6	4	19	16	30
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	18	6	7	5	16	16	25
Karpaty Lviv	18	5	7	6	19	21	22
Zorya Luhansk	18	5	6	7	19	27	21
Chornomorets Odessa	18	6	2	10	18	24	20
Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih	18	4	8	6	15	21	20
Arsenal Kyiv	18	4	5	9	13	21	17
Tavriya Simferopol	18	3	5	10	19	32	14
Lviv	18	3	4	11	12	26	13
Illichivets	18	3	3	12	17	32	12
Kharkiv	18	0	9	9	10	26	9