Arsenal will seek to clinch knockout qualification as they host Portuguese Sporting. Arsenal so far have been able to maintain a 100% record in Europa League with 3 wins from 3 including defeating Sporting away from home 0-1 which was really an impressive result. Sporting have not looked their best this year but in this competition they’re in good position despite losing their last game and are favoured to get out of the group as 2nd placed team, anything here would be a bonus for them.
Key Facts
Arsenal are currently unbeaten in 14 straight games in all competitions. 12W 2D.
Arsenal average 2.3 goals per home game this season. They’ve scored 2+ 7 times in 9 games.
Danny Welbeck is Arsenal’s top scorer in Europa League since the start of last season with 5. He’s scored 2 in 3 EL games this year.
Arsenal have only kept 4 clean sheets in 16 games this season, however they’ve kept 2 of those in 3 Europa League games.
Arsenal have won 12 of 16 games this season with 8 of those coming with them drawing at half time. Second half team.
Arsenal have only scored 9 first half goals and 29 goals in the second half.
On average there are 3.3 goals in Arsenal’s games in Europa League this season.
Sporting have only won 4 of their last 27 away major European games. 19L 4D.
Sporting have not kept a single clean sheet in 7 away games this season.
There are only 2 goals on average scored in Sporting’s Europa League games.
Team News
Arsenal: Mavropanos, Elneny and Koscielny are all out for Arsenal while Cech is Questionable. Monreal has returned to training but manager Unai Emery isn’t going to rush him back therefore expect him to not start. Guenduozi is available after missing the weekends fixture with suspension. Expect Emery to rotate again in the competition but to still field a relatively strong lineup with potentially a few 1st team players featuring.
Sporting: Sporting will be without Rodrigo Battaglia, Abdoulaye Diaby, Stefan Ristovski, Stefano Storari, Raphinha and Emiliano Vivivano however, main striker Bas Dost has returned from injury and is expect to start for the Portuguese side.
Betting Tips and Predictions
We expect more goals here than the previous meeting primarily because Arsenal are at home and they tend to score a lot at home while being shaky at the back. We wouldn’t back an over however because the odds for 2.5 are too low and 3.5 isn’t worth it. However we’d recommend a second half over 1.5 since both sides normally score more goals in the second half. Arsenal’s discrepancy is actually ridiculous between. 1st and 2nd half. More goals to be scored in the second half is also a pick worth the look. We do see Arsenal winning this game but expect it a close game again with a 2-1/3-1 ending. Arsenal’s Europa League top scorer in the last 2 seasons Danny Welbeck to score anytime is priced at 2.20.
Match Odds (TonyBet)
Arsenal Win – 1.30
Draw – 5.60
Sporting Win – 9.90
KICK OFF – 8th November 2018 - 8pm UK Time
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