Sports Blog 19/10/2017: Football Preview – UEFA Europa League, Thursday 19th October 2017

Can Arsenal’s trip to Red Star Belgrade, at 6pm on BT Sport 2, provide the Gunners with some much needed catharsis?

Oh Arsenal. Even their shocks at this point aren’t that shocking. After an awful August, where the Gunners lost 2 of their 3 Premier League games, in September (and the first day of October) it seemed like the club had turned a corner, with 3 wins, a draw against Chelsea and no goals conceded. And then they came back from the international break and lost at Watford, capitulating in the final minute of the game.



They’ve been better in the Europa League. First half of the opener against Koln aside Arsenal have been pretty unruffled, beating the Germans 3-1 before romping to a 4-2 win against BATE Borisov. That leaves them top of Group H on 6 points, 2 ahead of Red Star (a gap that will widen to 5 with a win in Belgrade).

In terms of Thursday’s starting XI, the front 3 is expected to be the same as against BATE. That means Olivier Giroud has a Super Mega PGM of 43-50, with Theo Walcott, who got a brace in Belarus, at 25-30 and Jack Wilshere at 9-13.

As for the hosts, Red Star have had a superb start to the Serbian SuperLiga, winning 10 out of their 12 games. In the Europa League – where they reached the competition proper by going through every stage of qualifying – they’ve been a tad less convincing, drawing against BATE before snatching a 1-0 win in Koln. That kind of form gives the visitors the advantage, at an Arsenal/Red Star Belgrade (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.5-0.7 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.7-2.9.

Elsewhere Everton – who actually host Arsenal on Sunday – aim to get their Europa League campaign back on track when they host Lyon, at 8.05pm on BT Sport 2. The Toffees are currently lurking just above the relegation zone, having lost half of their league games so far this season (admittedly they endured consecutive games against Man City – who they drew against – Chelsea, Tottenham and Man United).



Their opening Europa League game at Atalanta, meanwhile, was a disaster, with the Toffees losing 3-0. The follow-up at home to Apollon Limassol was almost as bad. Everton finished with a 2-2 draw after conceding an equaliser in the 88th minute, mere moments after the Cypriots had their centre back sent off.

Lyon haven’t been much better, managing 1-1 draws in both group stage fixtures. That makes the clubs pretty damn hard to separate, with Spreadex offering a choice Everton/Lyon Goal Supremacy spread of -0.1-0.1 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.65-2.85.