Arsenal's Europa League Trip To Qarabag Previewed

Tonight is Thursday night and we all know what that means. Unfortunately it means Europa League football for Arsenal for the second season in a row as we look to progress from our group and maybe do better than last season when we lost the semi final to Atletico Madrid. It’s a poor imitation of the Champions League, but with the winners qualifying for next season’s Champions League it’s a competition we have to take a real interest in.

It doesn’t help when you have to make the long journey to Azerbaijan and then try to get back in plenty of time to prepare for a Premier League game away to Fulham on Sunday. At least there will be no real travel involved in the game at Fulham, but such a long midweek journey can be energy sapping. I have no doubt Unai Emery will rotate his players as much as he can to try to insure victory in both games.

The injury to Petr Cech last weekend means we should get to see a fair bit of Bernd Leno and get to judge how well we spent all that money on him in the summer. He fits the bill in terms of how the manager wants to play the ball out from the back and it’s a matter of how his other attributes fit. Cech has looked very good in all aspects of his game this season except with the ball at his feet and Leno needs to improve from what we have seen so far if he’s going to keep his place in the team.

In defence we should see Stephan Lichsteiner play again and there’s a possibility of the fit again Sead Kolasinac playing at left back. Rob Holding has impressed in the last two games, but I think he will play as it gives him another opportunity to show the manager what he can do. With Sokratis Papastathopoulos recovered from his injury I think it’s 50/50 between him and Shkodran Mustafi as to who plays with Holding.

In midfield there should be outings for Mohamed Elneny and Matteo Guendouzi while I would expect Danny Welbeck to lead the line. I would be very surprised if Alex Iwobi didn’t play and we should see Emile Smith Rowe in the team too with the final spot probably going to Joe Willock. Neither Aaron Ramsey or Henrikh Mkhitaryan have travelled for the game for very different reasons.

Ramsey is staying behind as his wife is due to give birth and I imagine he didn’t want to be thousands of kilometers away if the event was to occur. The chances are he wouldn’t have played although the absence of Mkhitaryan might have meant he had a role to play. The less said about the Mkhitaryan situation the better, but the club have said he has stayed behind with a “cold”.

The comments of the Qarabag manager have hardly helped the situation, but how UEFA can allow teams to play in their competitions when opposition players can’t get a visa to play in their country is beyond me. It’s not as if Mkhitaryan is a Serge Aurier with a criminal record who can’t get his visa. The official line is he’s not well though and we have little choice other than to believe it despite doubting it to the extreme.

The 4-2 win in our first group game has put us in a healthy position in our group and three points against Qarabag would put us in a great position. For me the group stages are all about qualifying for the knockout stages while getting a chance to rest most of the players who will be playing in the league. The teams playing in the Champions League can’t afford to do that and it possibly gives Arsenal a chance to make up some ground in the league.

Qarabag have done reasonably well in European competitions in recent seasons and they certainly won’t be a pushover. The manager will have a strong bench to draw on if needs be and that’s something his predecessor didn’t do in the Europa League group stages. Emery has won this competition three times before and I have no doubt he will have at least one eye on the possibility of winning it again.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Danny Welbeck, but he has done very well with the limited chances he has got so far this season. It would be interesting to see how Welbeck might progress if he could manage a prolonged period without an injury, but he has spent most of his time at the club on the treatment table. A goal from him would make him our leading scorer so far this season and that’s not too shabby for a player who is clearly seen as back up.

As always in Europa League games the priority is getting all the players home fit and safe and raring to go on Sunday. Three points would be an added bonus and it’s something we can certainly do despite resting up to 10 of the players who beat Watford last Saturday.

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