Ludogorets vs Arsenal Preview, Team News, Line-Ups & Predicted Score

Arsenal will be looking to secure qualification to the knockout stages of the Champions League when we take on Ludogorets this evening.

We head in to the game sitting top of Group A at the half way point having picked up 8 points from our first three games and we can guarantee qualification to the next phase with a win tonight.

We should be confident of doing so as we thrashed the Bulgarian champions 6-0 at the Emirates two weeks ago with Mesut Ozil helping himself to his first ever professional hat-trick during the rout.

I’m sure Ludogorets will be out to avenge that humiliating defeat but we’re in excellent form as Saturday’s 4-1 win at Sunderland extended our unbeaten run to 14 games in all competitions which sees us sit level on points with Man City at the top of the table.

There is an argument that Arsene Wenger should rest some of his key men for Sunday’s north London derby against Tottenham but it’s important we top our Champions League group and with PSG also currently on 8 points, we need to bring home a win this evening.

Team news

Hector Bellerin hasn’t travelled to Bulgaria after picking up a minor knock in training so Carl Jenkinson is set to start at right-back while Kieran Gibbs will continue at left-back as Nacho Monreal is still out.

Santi Cazorla is also missing as he continues to nurse an achilles injury that’s kept him out of the last three games while Theo Walcott is also out with a hamstring injury despite taking part in training on Monday.

Aaron Ramsey is pushing for a start after making his long-awaited comeback off the bench at the weekend but I don’t think Wenger will throw him in from the start just yet after over two months out.

Granit Xhaka is available after serving his domestic ban while Olivier Giroud is pushing for a start after scoring twice off the bench at Sunderland. Lucas Perez, Per Mertesacker and Danny Welbeck are all out with long-term injuries.

Likely Line-Ups

Ludogorets: Stoyanov; Minev, Moti, Palomino, Natanael Pimienta; Dyakov, Andrianantenaina; Wanderson, Marcelinho, Keseru; Jonathan Cafu

Predicted Score

Ludogorets 1-3 Arsenal: The hosts will no doubt be keen to make up for their hefty defeat at the Emirates. In truth, they were actually pretty dangerous during the first half and I wouldn’t be surprised if they scored tonight, but we ripped them apart during the second half at home and I still think we’ll have way too much firepower for them.