By Holly Allison
Rennes’ Senegalese forward Ismaila Sarr (2ndL) celebrates after scoring their third goal during the UEFA Europa League round of 16 first leg football match between Stade Rennais FC and Arsenal FC at the Roazhon Park stadium in Rennes, northwestern France on March 7, 2019.
Arsenal go into Thursday’s match against Rennes knowing that they cannot afford to concede a goal, needing to win by at least two goals in order to reach the quarter finals of the UEFA Europa League. The Gunners lost the first leg of the UEFA Europa League round of 16 match 3-1 to French side Rennes.
The biggest challenge facing this Arsenal side will be in the defence. Struggling to keep clean sheets this season and losing Sokratis Papastathopoulos to a suspension in the previous game makes this uphill challenge even harder. But Arsenal can take confidence from the fact they came back from one goal down in the previous round to win 3-1 on aggregate.
The turning point in the first leg was the sending off of Sokratis Papastathopoulos, with all three goals coming after the defender left the pitch. With the first goal from Benjamin Bourigeaud scoring from a free kick Papastathopoulos gave away.
Slovak referee Ivan Kruzliak (R) shows a red card to Arsenal’s Greek defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos (L) during the UEFA Europa League round of 16 first leg football match between Stade Rennais FC and Arsenal FC at the Roazhon Park stadium in Rennes, northwestern France on March 7, 2019.
Arsenal will come into this game with a wave of confidence following a 2-0 win against top four rivals Manchester United. With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring a penalty after missing his last one against Tottenham Hotspur suggests the forward will be full of confidence for Thursday’s game.
A dilemma facing Unai Emery will be whether to continue with the retiring Petr Cech in goal, having conceded 19 goals in only 16 appearances, with many of those games coming in cup games against teams in lower leagues and the UEFA Europa League.
Bernd Leno appears to be in great form in recent weeks, keeping a clean sheet against Manchester United. Having Leno in goal raises the positivity from Arsenal fans before a game. Arsenal fan Luke Knight says “whenever I see Petr Cech in goal I immediately put a bet on for both teams to score. I have no confidence in him in this team.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 10: Bernd Leno of Arsenal saves from Marcus Rashford of Manchester United during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Manchester United at Emirates Stadium on March 10, 2019 in London, United Kingdom.
With Henrikh Mkhitaryan having missed the Gunners 2-0 win over Manchester United on Sunday with a minor back problem, it will be interesting whether or not he throws him into the starting line up or continues to use Mesut Ozil.
Predicted Arsenal team: – Petr Cech – Ainsley Maitland-Niles – Shkodran Mustafi – Laurent Koscielny – Nacho Monreal – Sead Kolasinac – Matteo Guendouzi – Lucas Torreira – Alex Iwobi – Mesut Ozil – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Predicted score – 3-0, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang x 2, Laurent Koscielny.
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