Heading into the home leg of their Uefa Europa League round of 32 tie with Olympiacos, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal squad has some fitness concerns. Defenders Calum Chambers (knee) and Kieran Tierney (shoulder) remain out as long-term injury absentees while January transfer window addition Cedric Soares still hasn’t recovered from his knee problem.
Meanwhile Sead Kolasinac, who made his first start start in sixth matches in the win over Everton on the weekend, left early due to a shoulder injury. So while the injury is not considered serious in the long term, he is a major doubt for this match. So while Arteta would obviously like to do a lot of squad rotation here, with so many unavailable players in the back line, his options in doing so are quite limited.
Let’s see what kind of team he might field in this one.
Arsenal Starting XI Prediction:
Leno; Sokratis, Mustafi, Luiz, Kolasinac; Guendouzi, Torreira; Nelson, Willock, Martinelli; Lacazette
Arsenal FC vs Olympiacos UEL Round of 32, Leg 2/2 (Aggregate 1-0) FYIs
February 27, 8pm, Emirates Stadium
Form Guide-
Arsenal Europa League form: WWDLDW
Arsenal’s form (all competitions): DWDWWW
Olympiacos’s Europa League form: L (the Greek side
Olympiacos’s form (all competitions): DWWWLW
Prediction: Arsenal FC 2, Olympiacos 0
Arsenal are well aware that winning this tournament is their best and most viable option, when it comes to finding a route back into the Champions League competition.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.