Arsenal FC really have their backs against the wall this week as they host Rennes in the second leg of their round of 16 tie down 3-1 on aggregate from last week. The Gunners recovered nicely to hand Ole Gunnar Solskjaer his first Premier League loss as Manchester United caretaker manager.
Arsenal are one of four teams fighting it out for the last two top four slots in the Premier League, so if that doesn’t get work out, they can still get back into Europe via the UEL route, but that’s not looking too good right now. Let’s predict who Unai Emery might select in his first team, in his bid to keep the Gunners alive.
Arsenal FC Starting XI Prediction (4-3-3) vs Rennes (UEFA Europa League Round of 16)
Attacking Players: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Alex Iwobi
Midfielders: Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi, Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Defenders: Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Shkodran Mustafi, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Nacho Monreal
Goalkeeper: Petr Cech
Arsenal FC at Rennes UEL Round of 16 Leg 2/2 (1-3 aggregate) FYIs
Kickoff: Thursday, March 14, 8pm, Emirates Stadium, London
Injury/Unavailable report for both teams: go to this link
Odds via Odds Checker: Arsenal 4/13, Draw 26/5, Rennes 10/1
Odds via Betway to win Europa League tournament: Chelsea 11/4, Napoli 7/2, Arsenal 8/1, Valencia 10/1, Inter 11/1, Sevilla 11/1
Arsenal FC Recent form in Europa League: DWWLWL
Recent form (all competitions): WWWDLW
Rennes Recent form in Europa League: LWWDWW
Recent form (all competitions): LWDWWW
Prediction: Arsenal 3, Rennes 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.