A sprinkling of “magic” from Arsenal’s big players is required for the Gunners to go all the way and win the Europa League, says Mikel Arteta - and it’s badly needed in the second leg against Slavia Prague.
The score is level, 1-1 after the first leg, but that away goal and the Gunners’ recent form of just one win in five matches - that against Premier League bottom club Sheffield United - mean that the north London side are not in a favourable position at the start of play in the Czech Republic.
Slavia cannot be underestimated, having already seen off Leicester City and Rangers in the two previous knock-out rounds, while they are themselves unbeaten in 23 games since December across all competitions.
The focus pre-game will once again be on club captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Arteta’s decision over whether to start him or not; he missed the weekend through illness, was dropped as a technical decision recently and was left out of the north London derby for disciplinary reasons, all hinting at an unhappiness at the club on one side of that relationship or the other.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the match.
When is the match?
The game kicks off at 8pm on Thursday, 15 April.
Where can I watch it?
The match will be screened live on BT Sport 1, while subscribers can stream the match via the BT Sport app and desktop website.
Line-ups
Slavia Prague: Kolar, Bah, Holes, Zima, Boril, Hromada, Sevcik, Stanciu, Provod, Olayinka, Kuchta
Arsenal: Leno, Mari, Holding, Chambers, Saka, Xhaka, Thomas, Ceballos, Smith Rowe, Lacazette, Pepe
Odds
Slavia - 19/5
Draw - 37/13
Arsenal - 6/7
Prediction
Arsenal are too inconsistent to be relied upon and Slavia will rightly have confidence in their abilities to see out the job. Slavia 2-1 Arsenal (agg 3-2).
