UEFA Europa League
Vitoria Guimaraes vs Arsenal
Estadio Dom Afonso Henriques, Guimaraes
Wednesday, 06-11-2019 @6:50pm
Ref: Halis Ozkahya (Tur)
Arsenal will be hoping to end a run of three games minus victory in all competitions when they take on Vitoria Guimaraes in the Europa League on Wednesday afternoon.
The Gunners are not in good form and have seen manager Unai Emery come under increasing pressure after losing to Liverpool in the Carling Cup and drawing both of their last two league games.
A lot has happened at Arsenal in the last few weeks and on Tuesday, the drama continued as Granit Xhaka was stripped of his captain’s arm-band and replaced by Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang.
Xhaka who has missed the last two games, could be handed a recall for this contest. Emery will almost certainly make sweeping changes to his team, with Joe Willock, Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli all in line to feature in the first XI. Ainsley Maitland-Niles could get the nod over Bukayo Sako while Hector Bellerin will hope to impress ahead of potentially playing in the Premier League on Saturday.
For Vitoria, Marcus Edwards will hope to be given another start for Vitoria, with the former Tottenham Hotspur youngster having scored at the Emirates Stadium. However, former Wolverhampton Wanderers man Leo Bonatini will likely begin the game on the substitutes’ bench.
Vitoria have only won one of their eight previous meetings with English sides in all competitions (D3 L4), beating Aston Villa 1-0 in September 1983. Arsenal have only won one of their seven away games against Portuguese sides (D3 L3), though it was their last such match at Sporting in last season’s Europa League. Vitoria are looking to avoid four consecutive defeats in all European competitions for the first time since September 1998. Arsenal are looking to win their first four group stage games in a Europa League or Champions League campaign for just the second time, winning their first five in the 2005-06 Champions League. Gabriel Martinelli has scored in both of his Europa League matches for Arsenal this season. The only player to score in each of his first three games in major European competition for the Gunners was Marouane Chamakh in 2010.
