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Football London
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Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

Europa League draw: Arsenal tipped to get a Spanish side in round of 32

Arsenal are most likely to draw either Granada or Real Sociedad in the Europa League round of 32 stage, according to a recent study.

The Gunners progressed to the knockout stages on matchday four thanks to a 3-0 win over Molde and then sealed top spot in Group B by thumping Rapid Wien 4-1 at home a week later.

That meant there was little to play for on last Thursday when Arsenal comfortably beat Dundalk 4-2 to ensure they ended the group phase with a perfect record.

As a result of finishing top, the Gunners will face one of the runners-up from the other Europa League groups when the draw for the round of 32 is made on Monday in Nyon.

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In addition, they can face one of the unseeded teams who finished third in their Champions League group.

Mikel Arteta's side will avoid Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United - who have dropped down from the Champions League - and that's because teams from the same country can't be paired together at this stage.

Worryingly, perhaps, for Arsenal and Arteta is the threat of facing Olympiacos - who beat them over two legs at the same stage last season.

Below are the 15 clubs Arsenal can be drawn against in the round of 32.

Red Bull Salzburg

Dynamo Kyiv

Krasnodar

Olympiacos

Red Star Belgrade

Young Boys

Granada

Slavia Praha

Benfica

Real Sociedad

Royal Antwerp

Braga

Lille

Wolfsberger AC

Maccabi Tel Aviv

With that said, the draw probabilities for the UEFA Europa League 20/21 round of 16 has been released by @emi_nga on Twitter and it makes for interesting reading.

According to the data, Arsenal have a 7.16% chance of drawing either Granada or Real Sociedad.

If Arsenal manage to avoid a trip to Spain, then a tie against Royal Antwerp (7.08%) awaits Arteta and company. Meanwhile, drawing Maccabi Tel Aviv (6.68%) is the next possibility, and facing either FC Krasnodar or Dynamo Kyiv is at 6.64%.

Finally, there's a 6.61% chance of drawing Young Boys, Slavia Praha, Benfica, Braga, Lille, Wolfsberger AC, and Red Star Belgrade with ties against Red Bull Salzburg and Olympiacos the least likely of all the possibilities at 6.20%.

Of course, Arsenal can't face Molde in the round of 32 as they were in the same group - hence the 0.00% probability.

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