Sports Blog 22/02/2018: UEFA Europa League – Round of 32 2nd Legs, Thursday 22nd February 2018

Is there anyway Arsenal will slip up against Ostersunds when they face off at 8.05pm on BT Sport 2, or is their place in the Europa League last 16 already secured?

Despite a depleted frontline – an issue unchanged heading into the 2nd leg – the Gunners were unsurprisingly fine coming out of last week’s fixture in Sweden. Strikes from Nacho Monreal and Mesut Ozil, alongside an own goal from Sotirios Papagiannopoulos, gave Arsenal a 3-0, away goals-boosted lead against a side that, to be fair, had done well to get this far in the competition.



That takes the pressure off of Thursday’s return fixture – and just in time. Sunday sees Arsenal take on Manchester City in the EFL Cup, a game that is far more important than a fixture Arsene Wenger must assume is done and dusted. With that partially in mind, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil won’t be making an appearance – they are suffering from a groin injury and illness respectively – while Alexandre Lacazette is still out, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is ineligible to play.

That gives Danny Welbeck another chance to impress after failing to get on the scoresheet last time. He sits at a Super Mega PGM of 53-61, ahead of Edward Nkietah and Henrikh Mkhitaryan – the latter is cup-tied for Sunday’s final, or he likely would have been left out too – both of whom are at 43-50.

Though the Gunners always have it in them to completely capitulate, it’s hard to see that happening on Thursday, with Spreadex offering an Arsenal/Osterlunds Goal Supremacy spread of 1.7-1.9 alongside a Total Goals spread of 3.25-3.45.

Meanwhile Celtic stand a decent chance of progressing to the next round when they travel to Zenit St Petersburg at 6pm on BT Sport 3. Though they don’t have the greatest record in Europe of late, a solid 1-0 win in the 1st leg of their tie against the best performing side of the Europa League’s group stages is nothing to be sniffed at.



Now Brendan Rodgers’ side just need to protect that lead. Zenit will be the fresher of the 2 – the Russian league still hasn’t returned from its winter break, while Celtic were held to a 0-0 draw by St Johnstone at the weekend – though they have the knowledge that just one away goal from the Scots will make things a whole lot more difficult.

It’s likely going to be tougher for the visitors than the hosts, with Spreadex offering a Zenit St Petersburg/Celtic Goal Supremacy spread of 0.85-1.05 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.6-2.8.