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Arsenal vs Olympiacos preview, team news, betting odds & prediction

By mac14 on March 16, 2021

Arsenal will be looking to book their place in the quarter-finals of the Europa League when they take on Olympiacos on Thursday night.

The Gunners took control of their last-16 tie thanks to a 3-1 comeback victory in the first leg in Greece last week so boss Mikel Arteta will be keen to finish the job at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal go into the game in confident mood after beating North London rivals Tottenham 2-1 on Sunday afternoon with Martin Odegaard and Alexandre Lacazette scoring the goals to secure the vital victory.

However, despite that win, Arsenal still sit 10th in the Premier League table and five points off the top six so winning the Europa League is probably still their best chance of salvaging something from this campaign.

Arsenal have one foot in the last 8 and only Manchester United, AC Milan and Tottenham are serious contenders for the trophy so the Gunners have a good chance of going all the way if they can finish the job on Thursday.

Betting odds

Understandably, Arsenal are the 2/5 favourites with many leading bookmakers to win the game on Thursday evening and today match prediction is for a comfortable home win for the Gunners.

Olympiacos are priced at 13/2 to pull off a shock win in the second leg while the draw is available at odds of 15/4 but we think Arsenal will get the job done to book their place in the quarters.

There should be plenty of goals in this game so Over 3.5 match goals is a tempting bet at 7/4. Another 3-1 victory for Arsenal is priced at 10/1 and that would be our prediction for the match.

Team news

Arsenal will have to make a late check on Bukayo Saka after he was forced off at half time during the win over Tottenham due to a hamstring injury. Arteta isn’t likely to take any risks with the youngster so Saka is expected to miss the game.

Otherwise, Arsenal have a fully-fit squad to choose from so Arteta is likely to make some changes to his team with Nicolas Pepe, Willian, Hector Bellerin, Dani Ceballos and Rob Holding all pushing for recalls.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is also hoping to feature after the Arsenal captain was axed for Sunday’s win over Tottenham after turning up late for the pre-match team meeting.

Prediction

Arsenal dominated much of the first leg and deservedly left with a 3-1 win and we wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar result on Thursday. Even if Arteta rotates, the Londoners will still have a far stronger side and we expect them to win comfortably.

Arsenal 3-1 Olympiacos