Sporting – Arsenal, Europa League Prediction

This game, at least on paper, seems to be very interesting, because two very exciting football styles come across. Sporting is not exactly at their best, but this is normal in some cases, given that so many changes have been made to this club in all aspects. They are, however, only 4 points from the first Benfica in the local championship and in the Europa League they have 6 points as Arsenal has, so it is a direct clash for the first place. Sporting have not scored a goal in just one of their last 17 games and at home they have 31 consecutive games without losing, as in 22 of them they have kept their sheet clean. Sporting is one of the top teams in Portugal and, in general, the goal of this team is a return to the Champions League.

Arsenal won again on Monday and Emery enjoyed the 10th consecutive victory and a great start to his period in London, despite the weak results and the struggles in the first few rounds. One thing is guaranteed at the moment – when playing Arsenal there will be goals. It’s just the style of the gunners right now. High defensive line, fast and direct passes through the center, no many passes and no slow football or pointless crosses. Arsenal does not have much of an ambition in the Europa League, as long as they do well in the Premier League, but now they have 6 points and there is hardly a chance not to go ahead, so getting through is important to be sure as soon as possible.

Sporting and Arsenal have no matches between themselves. The Gunners will surely come back with most of their 1^st eleven and even though both teams don’t mind the draw, we will hardly see 0-0. Our prediction here is BTTS at 1.80. In the form in which Arsenal is currently in place, there is no way to bet against them. They have Ozil, Aubameyang and Lacazette, who score goal after goal and are in top shape. Arsenal, on the other hand, have some problems in defense, as well as absent players and we rarely see teams getting clean sheets at the Portuguese stadium. Here everything depends on the motivation of both teams, but it seems that draw seems the most logical development, so this is our other prediction. The odds for this are 3.55.