Arsenal will make the trip to Austria today to take on Rapid Vienna in the early evening kick-off of 17:55 (BST).
The Gunners have never taken on the Austrian Bundesliga side before, but will be weary of the threat that they pose.
Wien may consider themselves unlucky not to have qualified for the Champions League, having lost 2-1 away to Belgian side Genk in the third qualifying round of the competition, with the Coronavirus causing UEFA to reduce these fixtures to one leg. Rapid were drawn away from home, and you would think bringing a 2-1 scoreline back to their home stadium would have been a strong position to hold.
They come into the tie on the back of four straight home wins, or three wins in all competitions, but they will be very much aware that today’s opponents will be stronger.
Arsenal do not have winning form going into the fixture, having lost to Manchester City (albeit despite a strong performance) at the weekend.
We have started the season brightly however, with a 100% record outside of the Premier League, including wins over Liverpool (twice) and Leicester, and the manager will be keen to continue on that form.
While Mikel Arteta will be expected to ring the changes as he has done on a number of occasions, you would believe that our side will have a strong upper hand, and a win will surely follow.
Regardless of the team that is selected, the players will be hungry to impress their manager, and this will lead to a strong performance on the pitch.
I’m going to predict a nice comfortable 4-1 win on our travels today, with Nicolas Pepe getting a nice confidence boosting goal or two.
Is anyone expecting Rapid to cause us trouble this evening?
Patrick
I think 4-1 is a little optimistic. I’ll go for 2-0 or 2-1 to us.
Would love to see a ‘Rapid’ brace from Auba.. and I’d also love to see ESR tonight…. COYG
Worst comment made on this site. You should be ashamed of that one!!!!
I do agree 2 goals for Aubu would be tasty. I really hope Reiss Nelson has a belter of a game tonight (if he starts).
😝😂 will try better next time!!
I’m just hoping for an all-round decent performance. The excitement levels are rising over the thought of TP!
Sue how dare you ?”worst comment made on this site”😂
🤣🤣 I’m slacking, Siamois!
It’s time to Parteeeeey
In about two and a half hours to be exact! 🙂 🙂 🙂
1 nil is to be expected
My bias side of me says 3-1 🙂
My cautious side of me says not to predict because there is always that chance of coming back down to earth with an almighty thud! 🙁
Respect should be given to Rapid Vienna and take nothing for granted!!
Sue, Auba will not play this evening but thunder thighs might.
Thunder thighs who is dat