Arsenal will face Stade Rennes at Roazhon Park in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Europa League. The task for the Gunners will not be very easy as the opponent is a little bit tricky for them this time. The Gunners have to travel to France to play the first leg of the round of 16 tie Europa League.
Team News :
Stade Rennes :
Stade Rennes are not in a great position in Ligue 1. So, their main focus will be on Europa League. The French side are currently situated at the 10th position in the League Table of Ligue 1 at this moment. In the previous round, Stade Rennes have knocked out Real Betis with an aggregate scoreline of 6-4 in their favour.
Koubek will start as a Goalkeeper for the home side on Thursday. The manager of the Ligue 1 side will prefer to play with a formation of 4-4-1-1 in this match. Zeffane, Silva, Mexer and Bensebaini will play in the defensive line for Stade Rennes. On the other hand, the likes of Sarr, Andre, Grenier and Niang will be there in the midfield for the French side. Ben Arfa will be playing just behind Hunou who will play as the lone centre forward for Stade Rennes.
Hunou and M’Baye Niang are in great form for Stade Rennes in this competition. Both of them were named in the scoresheet of the French side in their previous Europa League match. Ben Arfa will also be in the contention to be the hero of the match for the home side.
Arsenal :
The Gunners will be really hopeful to go through to the next round of the competition. Arsenal will certainly take Europa League seriously from now on. If Arsenal are not able to finish in the top four positions in the Premier League in this season, the road to Champions League in the next season can only be open for them if they win the Europa League in this season.
Bernd Leno might be rested in this match for the Gunners. Petr Cech might play under the bars for Arsenal in this match against Stade Rennes. Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Papastathopoulos and Kolasinac are going to play in the defensive line for the Gunners in this match. Xhaka and Torreira will play as two holding midfielders for the Gunners. Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alex Iwobi and Mesut Ozil will play as the attacking Midfielders for the away side. Pierre Emerick Aubameyang will start as the lone centre forward for the Gunners in this match.
Alexandre Lacazette started in the match against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday in the Premier League for the Gunners. However, Lacazette did not perform well in that match. The Gunners will face Manchester United too in the Premier League in this weekend. So, it will be interesting to see whom Unai Emery field in the Europa League match before the big game in the Premier League.
Predicted Starting Eleven :
Rennes : (4-4-1-1)
Goalkeeper : Koubek.
Defenders : Zeffane, Silva, Mexer, Bensebaini.
Midfielders : Sarr, Andre, Grenier, Niang.
Forwards : Ben Arfa; Hunou.
Arsenal : (4-2-3-1)
Goalkeeper : Cech.
Defenders : Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Papastathopoulos, Kolasinac.
Midfielders : Xhaka, Torreira; Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Iwobi.
Forward : Aubameyang.
My Predicted Scoreline :
Rennes 2-1 Arsenal
