Arsenal moves to Rennes in the first hand of UEFA Europa League finals. The game is scheduled on Thursday evening at 17:55 and “tuners” have an excellent balance in European Cup tours. The English had a much smoother course until this stage, compared to Rennes, who worked hard to get into the UEL spring.
At the second appearance in the Europa League, Rennes did miracles in the group stage after losing 3 of the first 4 stages! Eventually, the French team trained by Julien Stephan managed a stunning finish to the end and qualified in the last match with 3 wins and 3 failures in the active. In the “16”, Rennes was again one step away from home, after 3-3 against Real Betis, but the band from Hexagon managed an impressive 3-1 victory in Sevilla.
With no emotions in the Ligue 1 standings, Rennes is deeply focused on the “double” hand with Arsenal, and the Thursday match is considered the most important of the bangs in the last decade. With only one defeat in 8 home matches this season, Rennes is an athletic opponent with a great deal of effort and much offensive talent brought by M’Baye Niang and Clement Grenier. Arsenal had some excitement in the previous round, after 0-1 on BATE Borisov’s field, but turned the fate of the qualification with a categorical victory over “Emirates”, which masked the problems that “guns” have when playing away from home : they received a goal in 9 of the last 10 official games.
For Arsenal to be the 25th duel with a French team, and Londoners have not lost in Hexagon in the last 12 games (8 wins and 4 draws). With Unai Emery at timona, Arsenal is forced to attack the Baku final because the hesitant track of the championship is not enough to provide a white-red qualifier in the next edition of the UEFA Champions League. So the Europa League trophy is a priority for Arsenal, who has won the first goal in each of the last 5 games played in all competitions! No home-based failure of 12 matches, Rennes is void in 7 of them.
There are some batch issues at the hosts who can not bet on the injuries Baal, Danze, Guitane, Lea and Zeffane, while Unai Emery does not have Bellerin, Holding and Welbeck. It will be a special duel for the French Koscielny, Guendouzi and Lacazette, who will have a hostile reception Thursday night but have the quality to make a difference. At Arsenal Henrik Mkhitaryan has a very good shape (two goals and three decisive passes in the last three official matches), and the quality of the lot is clear to the visitors.
The Arena will be full at the time of the match and the fans are very optimistic, given that Rennes has lost one official match in the last nine. Arsenal comes after a 1-1 in the Tottenham championship, but also after the Bournemouth victories (5 -1), Southampton (2-0) and BATE Borisov (3-0). There are two quality bands, and the goals should appear fairly easy in this duel.
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / YES @ 1,71
