The Build Up-
Arsenal will play against FC Koln in the Europa League match on Thursday. Arsenal had won against their arch rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby with the margin of 2-0. The win had given them the mental boost up that was needed for the rest of season.
Arsenal have already qualified for the next round of Europa League. Arsene Wenger will try to rotate his starting line up a bit in this match to rest the key players for the long season ahead. They have collected 10 Points from their 4 encounters so far in the Europa League and are currently situated at the top of the table of the Group H. They will be eyeing for an unbeaten run in the group stage of the Europa League.
On the other hand, FC Koln are at the bottom of the table of Group H. They have collected only 3 Points from the 4 matches so far. They were defeated by Mainz 05 in the Bundesliga previous weekend with a margin of 1-0. They will now try to win both of their remaining games to have a chance to qualify for the next round and this game against Arsenal is a do or die match for FC Koln in their European campaign.
Team News :
FC Koln :
FC Koln will miss the service of their vice captain Jonas Hector in this important clash. Otherwise, they will have a full strength squad in their hand to field against Arsenal.
Timo Horn will start as the Goalkeeper of FC Koln in this match while Rausch, Sorensen,Maroh and Klunter will play in the defense for them. Bittencourt, Lehmann, Ozcan and Jojic will be there in the midfield for Koln. Guirassy and Cordoba will be leading them from the upfront.
Arsenal :
Maitland-Niles, Akpom, Nelson, Nketiah, Sheaf, Dasilva, McGuane, Osei-Tutu, Willock, Macey all under consideration for first-team appearance for the match against FC Koln.
Calum Chambers could return from injury in this match and might be in the starting line up of Arsenal in this match against FC. Danny Welbeck are also in the contention to start the match after coming back from injury.
Danny Welbeck could well be needed in the Arsenal starting eleven as Olivier Giroud is now injured and Theo Walcott’s illness could force him out of the contention for the match.
Predicted First Eleven :
FC Koln : (4-4-2)
Goalkeeper : Timo Horn
Defenders : Konstantin Rausch,Frederik
Sorensen,Dominic Maroh,Lukas Klunter
Midfielders : Leonardo Bittencourt,Matthias Lehmann, Salih Ozcan, Milos Jojic.
Attackers : Sehrou Guirassy,Jhon Cordoba .
Arsenal : (3-4-3)
Goalkeeper : Matt Macey
Defenders : Calum Chambers,Rob Holding
Mathieu Debuchy.
Midfielders : Reiss Nelson,Mohamed Elneny,Joe Willock, Maitland-Niles.
Attackers : Theo Walcott,Jack Wilshere,Danny Welbeck.
My Score Prediction :
FC Koln 1-2 Arsenal.
The Gunners seem to be in good after beating Spurs and might carry that momentum into the fixture as well. If they keep playing the way that they have been in recent times, it could be yet another win for Arsene Wenger’s side on the night. Hopefully, things go according to play for the French manager and his side can produce some high quality football yet again.
