Arsenal vs Olympiacos
Emirates Stadium, London
Thursday, 27-02-2020 @11pm
Ref: Davide Massa (Ita)
Arsenal defender Sead Kolasinac will miss his side’s Europa League last-32 second leg against Olympiakos, but manager Mikel Arteta is hopeful he will return to action this season. Kolasinac suffered a “significant” shoulder injury during Sunday’s 3-2 win against Everton.
Bukayo Saka, 18, who replaced Kolasinac in Sunday’s victory over Everton, is expected to start at Emirates Stadium.
Injured full-backs Kieran Tierney and Cedric Soares are expected to return to training by the end of the month.
The Gunners lead the tie 1-0 after Alexandre Lacazette’s late winner in Greece.
Arsenal have won three of their four home meetings with Olympiakos in all competitions, though they did lose the last match 3-2 in the 2015-16 Champions League group stage.
Including qualifiers, Arsenal have progressed from all 17 of their European ties when winning the first leg away from home. Should the Gunners avoid defeat here, they’ll have progressed from as many two-legged knockout ties in the past three seasons in the Europa League as they did in the Champions League between 2000-01 and 2016-17 (eight). Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka has the most assists in the Europa League this season (excluding qualifiers) and is the first English player to assist five or more goals in a single campaign since the competition was rebranded.
Including qualifiers, Olympiakos have won just two of their 32 European ties when losing the first leg, getting past FK Rad in the 1989-90 Uefa Cup, and Chornomorets Odesa in the 1992-93 European Cup Winners’ Cup. Excluding qualifiers, Olympiakos have lost 10 of their past 11 away games in European competition, beating F91 Dudelange 2-0 in the other (October 2018).
Man United vs Club Brugge
Old Trafford, Manchester
Thursday, 27-02-2020 @11pm
Ref: Serdar Guzubuyuk (Ned)
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has no new injury concerns for the game. Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba remain the club’s long-term absentees, with the pair out with back and ankle issues respectively.
United have been handed a huge boost by the news that their opponents will be without Emmanuel Dennis for the game. The striker put in a man-of-the-match performance in the first leg, scoring Bruges’ goal with a clever chip. However, Dennis was injured in Sunday’s win over Charleroi, along with captain Ruud Vormer, and both players will miss Thursday’s game.
Manchester United have hosted Club Brugge once previously in a European game, winning 3-1 in a Champions League qualifier in August 2015. Club Brugge have never won an away European match in England (including qualifiers), drawing two and losing 10 of 12 previous visits. Their most recent game was a 2-1 defeat against Leicester City in November 2016 in the Champions League. Manchester United are unbeaten in their last 12 home UEFA Europa League games (W10 D2) since losing to Marcelo Bielsa’s Athletic Bilbao in March 2012. Manchester United have kept five clean sheets in their last six matches across all competitions. The only game during this run where the Red Devils conceded was the first leg against Club Brugge. Anthony Martial has scored three goals in his last four European matches for Manchester United, having scored just three goals in his previous 26 European games for the Red Devils.
The two sides drew 1-1 in Brugge last week.
The other Europa League games to be played on Thursday.
Thursday, 20-02-2020 @8:55
-Istanbul BB vs Sporting Lisbon
-Espanyol vs Wolves
-Porto vs Bayer Leverkusen
-Basel vs APOEL
-LASK vs AZ Alkmaar
-Malmo FF vs Wolfsburg
-Gent vs AS Roma
Thursday, 20-02-2020 @11pm
-Ajax vs Getafe
-Celtic vs Copenhagen
-Sevilla vs CFR Cluj
-Inter Milan vs Ludogorates
-Slazburg vs Frankfurt
-Benfica vs Shakhter
Wednesday’s Result
-Braga 0-1 Rangers (AGG 2-4)
