Arsenal

Arsenal vs Ostersunds | Team News | Expected Line-Ups | Predicted Score | Betting

Arsenal take on Ostersunds in their Europa League second leg this evening. Here is a preview with team news, line-ups and predicted score

by
Gooner Mac
February 22, 2018

Arsenal will be looking to book their place in the last-16 of the Europa League when we welcome Ostersunds to the Emirates this evening.

We put one foot in the next phase of the competition after easing to a 3-0 victory in the first leg in Sweden last week so it would take a minor miracle for Ostersunds to turn things around tonight.

I was expecting a tougher game in the first leg but the lads coped well with the freezing conditions and plastic pitch while David Ospina’s late penalty save ensured we kept a clean sheet.

So barring a catastrophe we’ll be in tomorrow’s draw for the last-16 and it looks like Arsene Wenger should be focussing on the Europa League as a top four finish in the Premier League now looks highly unlikely.

With qualification all-but secured, the boss can also rest our key players ahead of Sunday’s Carabao Cup final with Manchester City so we should expect to see a weakened team this evening.

Team news

The likes of Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal, Hector Bellerin and Jack Wilshere will all be rested tonight while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is ineligible.

David Ospina will start in goal while Henrikh Mkhitaryan will feature as he’s cup tied at the weekend. We should also see the likes of Calum Chambers, Rob Holding, Sead Kolasinac and Per Mertesacker get runs out while youngsters Reiss Nelson and Ainsley Maitland-Niles are also expected to feature.

Aaron Ramsey returned to training yesterday after recovering from a groin injury but he won’t be risked while Mesut Ozil will also sit the game out tonight after picking up a sickness big earlier this week.

Alexandre Lacazette is on-course to return from his knee injury in mid-March but he remains on the sidelines so Danny Welbeck will lead the line up front.

Expected line-ups

Ostersunds: Keita, Mukiibi, Papagiannopoulos, Petterson, Mensah, Edwards, Nouri, Sema, Widgren, Islamovic, Gero.

Predicted Score

Arsenal 4-0 Ostersunds: This should be a formality as we saw last week that we’re a much stronger side than Ostersunds. They’ve only scored 3 away goals throughout the entire Europa League campaign this season so it’s virtually impossible they can score at least 3 this evening. Arsenal have lost just one of their last 27 matches at the Emirates and despite fielding a weakened side, I think we’ll win this game comfortably.

Betting Tips

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