On Thursday evening, starting at 20:00, Arsenal and Standard Liege duel in the second stage of the UEFA Europa League, in a match in which Unai Emery’s team has a small chance to succeed. Obviously, in terms of value, the Londoners are over the Belgians, but it will not be an easy match on Thursday.
At Emirates, Arsenal are hoping to continue their impressive European League journey. Each time she is involved in the competition groups, the red and white team “slalom” among the opponents, and last season qualified further with maximum points. Unai Emery’s team is a specialist in the Europa League and will tackle the match with the Belgian band offensively.
In the first stage of Group F, Arsenal won without a right of appeal on the ground of Eintracht Frankfurt, score 3-0, while Standard Liege won 2-0 in front of Victory Guimaraes. Former FCSB rival in the play-off, Guimaraes, failed to put big problems on the Maurice Dufresne arena, where the consistent play of favorites made the difference. Standard has quality players like Carcela, Limbombe or M’Poku, and Denis Dragus could enter after the break. The formation of the novel will not only be on the defensive and we could attend an open game!
Standard has had good results lately: victories with Oostende (4-1) and Eupen (3-0) in the championship, a success with 2-1 in the Cup, against Lommel, but also a draw with Charleroi, in the championship (1 -1). Arsenal come after three impressive wins, with Eintracht, Aston Villa (3-2) and Nottingham Forest (5-0, in the League Cup). Earlier in the week, the Londoners played a very difficult match on the field of the one-time rival, Manchester United, but the red-and-white ones certainly had the resources for the duel with Standard. The two formations met in 2009, in UCL groups, when the “tuners” prevailed at home with 2-0 and 3-2 away. We expect Unai Emery’s team to win this time, even if we see reserves in the host camp.
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / YES @ 1,79
