Another Thursday night, another Europa League trip for a few diehards. Moscow is a tough destination at the moment with relations between Russia and much of the western world severely strained. To paraphrase George Graham in 1989 let’s get there, get the win, then get out of there.
Roma’s remarkable comeback to knock Barcelona out of the Champions League on Tuesday night should serve as a warning against complacency tomorrow. When quizzed in his pre-match press conference in Moscow Arsene Wenger offered assurances.
“Last night may be a warning for us but let us not go overboard as well. Yes, we have a big job to do but we are in a strong position and it is how we approach the game that will be vital tomorrow.”
The Arsenal will have to make two enforced changes from the team that beat CSKA 4-1 in the first leg. Mohamed Elneny is the likeliest replacement for Granit Xhaka who was left at home with a flu bug. Alex Iwobi is probably the starter in place of Henrikh Mkhitaryan. A starting eleven then of Petr Cech; Hector Bellerin, Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi, Nacho Monreal; Elneny, Aaron Ramsey; Iwobi, Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil; Alexandre Lacazette.
CSKA will have to come out and go for broke and we now know they have players like Golovkin, Musa, and Dzagoev who showed moments of real menace and to be fair CSKA might well have added to their one goal tally on the night. We will have to be wary of the genuine pace they have in abundance. A fervent home crowd will roar their team on and make a hostile atmosphere for the visitors. We would do well to quieten them with the first goal.
The ‘holic pound
I dare say we all of us have considered the many twists and turns this match could take tomorrow. I was tempted to back a draw for the second time this season as it would be good enough to see us through, but we have momentum from a six match winning run and I’ll back us getting a seventh under difficult circumstances. The bookmakers seem to have similar feelings. 1-1 is the market favourite at 7/1. The 12/1 available against 2-2 is more attractive, but I am on my old favourite, 1-2 to the Arsenal, the second favourite at 15/2. Update, I just got 8/1 at Bet Victor.
So few have made the journey (I think we only requested 500 tickets) there should be bumper viewing figures for the show on television and streams. I hope you all get a decent picture and we deliver a European semi-final for the first time since 2009.
Have a great one, ‘holics.
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