Sports Blog 07/12/2017: Football Preview – UEFA Europa League, Thursday 7th December 2017

Can Arsenal and Everton enliven their pair of dead rubber Europa League fixtures this Thursday?

First up are the Toffees, who have a largely meaningless trip to Apollon Limassol at 6pm on BT Sport 2. Since news of the appointment of Big Sam Everton have markedly improved; with Allardyce in the stands, if not on the touchline, they hammered West Ham 4-0, before beating Huddersfield 2-0 in the new manager’s first game in charge. Now they need to scrape together whatever’s left of their European dignity, and try and claim their first Europa League victory of the season in Cyprus.



It is a sign of how unimportant Thursday’s game is, however, that Allardyce is actually going to miss the match due to a ‘pre-arranged medical appointment’. Combine that with the prospect of Sunday’s Merseyside derby, and Apollon might not see the Toffees at their best. At least it’ll give the likes of Kevin Mirallas – who sits at a Super Mega PGM of 24-29 – a chance to try and get something on the board.

The visitor’s general lack of interest in the fixture obviously gives the hosts the advantage, with Spreadex offering an Apollon Limassol/Everton Goal Supremacy spread of 0.4-0.6 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.7-2.9.

As for Arsenal, they take on BATE Borisov at 8.05pm on BT Sport 2. The Gunners’ final group game is just as pointless as Everton’s Cypriot adventure, if for very different reasons; despite losing to Koln a fortnight ago Arsenal are already guaranteed the Group H top spot. Yet the relative depth of the side’s squad means Arsene Wenger is still going to field a fairly decent starting 11, including Olivier Giroud (who has a Super Mega PGM of 69-79), Theo Walcott (at 39-45) and Danny Welbeck (at 28-33).



While Arsenal might as well not turn up, its still all up for grabs for BATE. Though they’re currently bottom of the group on 5 points, that’s only 1 behind Red Star Belgrade and Koln; that means if those sides draw their tie in Serbia, and BATE beat the Gunners, then the Belarussian champs will be through to the next round.

That Wenger isn’t sending out a bunch of kids might make things a bit too difficult for visitors, with Spreadex offering an Arsenal/BATE Borisov Goal Supremacy spread of 1.55-1.75 alongside a Total Goals spread of 3.15-3.35.