Given who played and who did not play in Arsenal’s Premier League loss at Sheffield United on Monday night, you can probably count on four players being in the first team against Vitoria SC tomorrow night. Likely to be in the starting XI Thursday, for the UEFA Europa League group stage contest are Kieran Tierney, Dani Ceballos, Rob Holding and Lucas Torreira.
You can probably bet on Mesut Ozil being left out again, because well, it’s just how Arsenal manager Unai Emery rolls. Although that storyline has certainly grown tiresome, it still does leave us wondering.
I mean we’ve seen the weaknesses in the Gunners midfield fully exposed time and time again. Could a player as accomplished as Ozil really be that much worse?
Arsenal FC Starting XI Prediction vs Vitoria SC
Gabriel Martinelli Bukayo Saka Nicolas Pepe
Lucas Torreira Dani Ceballos Joe Willock
Ainsley Maitland-Niles Rob Holding Shkodran Mustafi Kieran Tierney
Emiliano Martinez
Vitoria SC at Arsenal FC (UEFA Europa League Group stage) FYIs
Team news for both sides: go to this link
Kickoff: 8 BST, Oct 24, Emirates Stadium
TV: BT Sport 2
Group L Standings: Arsenal first with 6 points, Vitoria last with 0 points
Prediction: Arsenal 5, Vitoria 0
It’s not a road game, so you can feel confident in picking the Gunners. Against a very injury-riddled side from a much smaller club, look for Arsenal to roll in this one big time.
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.
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