Bad news first for Arsenal- this past weekend extinguished their Premier League title hopes. Those hopes were on life support to begin with, but falling two more points behind Liverpool (making the deficit now 13) just killed off the idea entirely. Now for the good news, they should easily skate past Real Madrid into the UCL semifinals this midweek.
With a nice cushion from the first leg, Arsenal are in prime position to move on here.
UEFA Champions League Quarterfinals Leg 2/2
Kickoff: Wed. April 16, 8pm, Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain
Aggregate: Arsenal leads 3-0
Team News: Arsenal Real Madrid
Starting Lineup Predictions Arsenal Real Madrid
Google’s 90 Min Result Probability: Real Madrid 57% Draw 23% Arsenal 20%
And when you knock out the holders, well, this makes you one of the favorites now. You know the saying, if you want to be the champs, you got to beat the champs. And with that nice 3-0 lead, maybe some reserves get some run here? Raheem Sterling might even start here!
Although we didn’t include him in our prediction.
Arsenal Lineup Prediction at Real Madrid (Champions League)
David Raya; Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Jakub Kiwior, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice; Ethan Nwaneri, Mikel Merino, Leandro Trossard; Bukayo Saka
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.