ARSENAL continue their Europa League knockout journey at the Emirates on Thursday night. Anthony Olsson (@Ant_olsson93) analyses the encounter.
Arsenal v Olympiakos | Thursday 27th February 2020, 20:00 | BT Sport
Arsenal entertain Olympiacos in the second leg of their Last 32 tie on Thuesday. The Gunners have a 1-0 lead to protect and they’ll feel confident of adding to that scoreline in their home surroundings. Arsenal are starting to show character under Mikel Arteta and the way they recovered from a losing position against a spirited Everton side was impressive.
It is now 10 games unbeaten for the Gunners in all competitions and it is three wins in their last three games. The home team are 1/2 (Bet365) and I think it’s right that they are strong favourites for this game. Olympiakos will feel like they can still cause a few issues and they bounced back to winning ways last time out with a 1-0 win against PAOK.
Arsenal do look to rotate their players in the Europa League and I think they’ll look to start Alexandre Lacazette again here. The French forward scored the only goal of the game in the first leg and I think he could be the main point of attack again.
Lacazette is 13/10 (BetVictor) to score at anytime and I think that would be a good angle. The Arsenal ace has two goals in four appearances in the competition so far and I think he’ll be desperate to impress in what has been a tough season for him.
Another play I like is for Shkrodran Mustafi to be shown a card. Mustafi has four yellow cards in six appearances in the Europa this season – the German is often asked to play on the right-hand side of the defence, either in a three or a four, and despite his high pedigree it seems to be causing him problems.
Mustafi is 5/1 (Unibet) to be shown a card where he will be up against some decent opposition in the likes of Mathieu Valbuena who still has a good amount of trickery left in him despite his age.
If Arsenal pick up where they left off against Everton, they should have too much for their Greek visitors. The Gunners have been good in front of goal in their last two home games, managing to score seven times. I fancy them to finish the job on Thursday and I like the look of Arsenal to win and Over 2.5 Goals at 13/10 (Boylesports).
Best Bets
Arsenal v Olympiakos – Arsenal to win and Over 2.5 Goals 13/10 (Boylesports)
Arsenal v Olympiakos – Shkrodran Mustafi to be shown a card 5/1 (Unibet)
Arsenal v Olympiakos – Alexandre Lacazette to score at anytime (13/10 BetVictor)
