Uncategorized

Europa League Preview – Five British teams in action on Thursday

Arsenal, Tottenham, Leicester, Celtic and Rangers are all in Europa League action on Thursday as the group stages continue.

Leicester face a tricky test away at Braga in Portugal. The Foxes have enjoyed a great campaign so far with three wins from three and another win here could see them qualify for the knockout stages. Leicester ran out easy 4-0 winners last time the two sides met, although it looks a tougher task away from home with Braga sitting in second place in the Primera Liga.

Arsenal also have three wins from three. They have travelled to Norway to take on Molde who they beat 4-1 at the Emirates Stadium. Again a win for Arsenal could see them qualify for the knockout stages. Molde did take a surprise lead last time the sides played, but Arsenal were able to win comfortably in the end. It may be a young side on display for the Gunners, although Nicolas Pepe is expected to play despite his red card against Leeds on Sunday.

Tottenham face Bulgarian side Ludogorets at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with the London side at the top of a tight group with three teams on six points. However Ludogorets are yet to pick up a point from their three games and lost 3-1 to Tottenham in Bulgaria. With Spurs facing Chelsea on Sunday in the Premier League, Mourinho may rotate his team and Gareth Bale, Joe Rodon and Joe Hart expected to be in action Thursday.

Rangers face European giants Benfica at Ibrox. Rangers are in a tussle with the Portuguese team with both sides on seven points having fought to an entertaining 3-3 draw last time they played. Steven Gerrard’s side will be hoping to take their excellent league form into tonight’s game where they can put themselves in a strong position to qualify from their group.

Celtic travel to the Czech Republic to take on Sparta Prague. The Scottish side are struggling in a tough group and find themselves bottom with only one point. Celtic cannot be eliminated tonight but it would be a near impossible task to qualify should they lose tonight, although a win really puts them back into contention.

Napoli will be in action for the first time since the death of Diego Maradona. The Argentinean genius played 188 times for the Italian club scoring 81 goals. In honour of Maradona, Napoli are considering naming their stadium after him. Napoli face Croatian side Rijeka tonight and there will be a tribute for Maradona before the game.

The opening Europa League games get underway at 17:55 with Leicester, Arsenal and Celtic in action. Rangers and Tottenham both get underway at 20:00.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *