Ace Football previews the Europa League game between Arsenal and Slavia Prague and offers betting tips, odds, line-ups, and team news.
Arsenal welcome Slavia Prague to the Emirates stadium for the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final clash. The Gunners will be aiming to bounce back from their woeful 3-0 defeat to Liverpool at the weekend.
A big boost for the Gunners is the return of Bukayo Saka, Granit Xhaka, and Emile Smith Rowe to the squad.
Arsenal are tagged as one of the Europa League favorites and the need to win this competition goes way deeper. The top four hopes are looking rather impossible and this might be their only route to European football next season.
Slavia Prague won’t come as easy opposition though. The Czech giants are undefeated from 25 games so far this season. In the Europa League, they have lost only twice all through the competition.
Regardless, Arsenal come into this game as favorites, but it might be an end-to-end game between both sides.
Arsenal Form and Stats
Arsenal suffered a second defeat in their last three matches when returning from the international break with a 3-0 defeat to Liverpool.
The Gunners were below par at the Emirates as a second-half double from Diogo Jota and a Mo Salah goal earned Liverpool the points.
Mikel Arteta’s side has qualified for the quarter-finals of the Europa League despite a 1-0 defeat at home to Olympiakos. A 3-1 away win saw them through on aggregate.
Sandwiched in between the two defeats was a 3-3 draw with West Ham.
The Gunners were three down after 32 minutes, but own goals from Tomas Soucek and Craig Dawson got them back in it. Alexandre Lacazette then leveled with eight minutes remaining.
- Arsenal are winless in their last 3 matches (all competitions).
- Arsenal have lost 2 of their last 3 matches (all competitions).
- Arsenal have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 13 matches (all competitions)
Slavia Prague Form and Stats
Slavia Prague’s unbeaten run now stands at 21 games after a 0-0 draw with Brno in the Czech 1 Liga on Sunday.
Slavia played 72 minutes with 10 men in that game after teenager goalkeeper Matyas Vagner was sent off.
It was just the sixth time that Slavia have failed to win in the unbeaten run, which started in mid-December.
Jindrich Trpisovsky’s side have defeated Leicester and Rangers 2-0 away in the last two rounds, following draws in the home legs.
- Slavia Prague are undefeated in their last 21 matches (all competitions).
- Slavia Prague have won 15 of their last 21 matches (all competitions).
- Slavia Prague are undefeated in 8 of their last 9 matches (UEFA Europa League).
Team News
Arsenal: Arsenal will be without David Luiz after the center-back underwent minor surgery on a knee injury. Kieran Tierney limped off the defeat to Liverpool and is also out.
Slavia Prague: Ondrej Kudela misses the first leg after being suspended by UEFA for one game. He joins fellow center-back David Hovorka and goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar on the sidelines. Central midfielder Ibrahim Traore could make the bench after a spell out.
Predicted Line-up
(Note: The image will change to the official XI once they’re both announced)
Head-to-head
These two sides last met in the UEFA Champions League group stage in 2007. Arsenal were 7-0 winners at home before playing out a 0-0 draw in Prague.
Match Facts
Betting Tips
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