Arsenal take on Koln in the UEFA Europa League

Arsenal are set to play Cologne on Thursday night in the Europa League as they start their European campaign. Arsenal are the favorites to take the three points in this game.

Kick-off : 7:05 PM (Local)

Venue : Emirates Stadium, London

After finishing fifth in the premier league last season, Arsenal missed out on the opportunity to qualify for this season’s Champions League. This is the first time since 1997-98 that Arsenal are not in the UCL.

While they would like to keep doing well in the premier league but they will certainly want to win the Europa League. It’s a pathway to qualify to the Champions League.

On the other hand, Bundesliga outfit Koln also finished fifth last term and they represent one of Arsenal’s toughest opponents in Group H. The other teams in Arsenal’s group are BATE Borisov and Red Star Belgrade.

Team news and possible line-ups

Koln head coach Peter Stoger has confirmed that striker Artjoms Rudnevs will not be available for the game against Arsenal. Other than that, they have a full squad to choose from.

Marcel Risse and Milos Jojic are available for Thursday’s game and will likely play.

As for Arsenal, Francis Coquelin will not be available against Cologne as he is suffering a hamstring injury. Whereas Santi Cazorla will not be available as well.

Arsene Wenger has included a number of youth team players in his squad. He might want to rotate his squad as due to a crucial premier league clash awaits three days later.

Koln XI : T. Horn, Hector, Heintz, Mere, Klunter, Jojic, Risse, Lehmann, Bittencourt, Cordoba, Osako.

Arsenal XI : Ospina, Holding, Mustafi, Monreal, Bellerin, Kolasinac, Elneny, Wilshere, Nelson, Giroud, Sanchez.

Prediction

Although the Gunners have had a shaky start to the PL but I think they will win the Europa League opener. The scoreline should be 2-0.