Rennes – Arsenal

Rennes hosts Arsenal in a first game from the Europa League 1/8-finals. Allow us to take a look at this fixture and see what’s the situation with these two teams at the moment.

In the previous round of the competition Rennes achieved a win over Real Betis. The first leg on French soil ended with a 3-3 draw, which gave Betis some advantage before the rematch. But it got really different at the Estadio Benito Villamarin, where Rennes enjoyed a 3-1 win. The French team won the game with goals from Rami Bensebaini, Adrien Hunou and Mbaye Niang, while Giovani Lo Celso’s goal for Betis did not change anything.

In the French Ligue 1 Rennes are currently at the middle of the table, being 10th with 37 points won so far. They are surely having an average season so far, but this could change if they manage to eliminate a club like Arsenal from Europa League.

Arsenal suffered a surprising defeat against BATE Borisov in a first 1/16-finals game, but in the second leg the Gunners did their job against the Belarusians and won with 3-0. BATE’s Volkov scored himself an own goal, while Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papasthathopoulos also put the ball in the net for the Gunners.

Arsenal will surely try to win Europa League this season. Not just because it’s a prestigious trophy, but also because it’s not guaranteed that the Gunners will finish in the Top 4 of the Premier League. Winning Europa League could be Arsenal’s key to the Champions League for next season and the manager Unai Emery knows this very well.

Rennes will have a tough task against Arsenal on Thursday night, but it won’t be easy for Arsenal as well. We have all the reasons to expect a great clash between these two teams.

BATE Borisov – Arsenal

BATE Borisov welcomes Arsenal in another one of the UEFA Europa League 1/16-finals. The first game between these two sides is going to get played in Belarus. Let’s see what’s going on with them.

BATE reached the 1/16-finals of the Europa League after finishing 2nd in Group L. They were beaten for the first place by Chelsea, which was far from surprising, of course. BATE ended their participation in the group with 9 points and a record of 3 wins and 3 losses. They managed to beat Hungary’s MOL Vidi and Greece’s PAOK for the second position in the group.

In the Belarusian Premier League BATE are marching towards another title. They are leaders in the standings with 9 points advantage in front of the 2nd Shakhtyor. They have lost just 3 games so far from 30 matches played.

Last season Arsenal were eliminated by Atletico Madrid in Europa League, but now the Gunners are desperate to reach the final and fight for the trophy. Unai Emery’s team didn’t have any problems to win Group E of the competition, finishing with a perfect record of 16 wins from 16 possible. So far Arsenal are showing some great commitment to Europa League, showing everyone that they are taking this competition pretty seriously.

In the Premier League the Gunners are fighting for a Top 4 finish. Right now Emery’s team is 5th in the league with 50 points, being just 1 point behind the 4th Manchester United. In their last five games Arsenal won three times, but also suffered two losses. In their last match Emery’s boys achieved a 2-1 win during the visit to Huddersfield Town.

That’s what we had to say about the Europa League clash between BATE Borisov and Arsenal on Thursday night. Good luck!

Huddersfield Town – Arsenal

Huddersfield Town welcomes Arsenal in a game from the 26th round of the Premier League. Let’s take a look at this fixture.

For Huddersfield Town there is no more hope that they can survive this season. At this moment they are 20th in the league standings, trailing on 13 points behind the 17th Burnley and the safe zone. How you can see, they would need a miracle to survive. And miracles do not happen very often.

In their last five games Huddersfield Town suffered four defeats and won just one point during the 0-0 draw with Cardiff City. They have won just 2 matches since the beginning of the campaign. As it goes right now, they could finish the season as one of the weakest team in the history of the Premier League.

Huddersfield’s last game was another nightmare. Jan Siewert’s boys suffered a 0-5 defeat during the visit to Chelsea. But we doubt that anyone was really surprised of what happened at the Stamford Bridge.

Arsenal on the other hand are fighting for a Top 4 finish and a qualification to the Champions League. Right now the Gunners are 6th in the league with 47 points, having a record of 14 wins, 5 draws and 6 defeats. In their last five matches Unai Emery’s boys won three times, but also suffered two defeats. Right now Arsenal are 3 points behind the 4th Arsenal and the Top 4.

In their last game the Gunners suffered a 1-3 defeat during the visit to the champion Manchester City. Laurent Koscielny scored Arsenal’s only goal in the game, but City prevailed with a fantastic hattrick from their star striker Sergio Aguero.

Arsenal are the clear favourite against Huddersfield Town. We highly doubt that they can make a mistake against this opponent.