Europa League

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Europa League | Group Stage

Oct 29, 2020 at 8pm UK

Emirates Stadium

Arsenal
3 - 0
Dundalk

Nketiah (42'), Willock (44'), Pepe (46')

FT(HT: 2-0)

Preview: Arsenal vs. Dundalk - prediction, team news, lineups

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 27 October 2020

Sports Mole previews Thursday's Europa League fixture between Arsenal and Dundalk, including team news and predicted lineups.

Arsenal welcome Dundalk to the Emirates Stadium on Thursday evening looking to retain their 100% record in Group B.

The Gunners started their 2020-21 Europa League campaign with a hard-fought triumph against Rapid Vienna, while their Irish opponents lost to Molde by a 2-1 scoreline.

Match preview

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta pictured on September 19, 2020 © Reuters

Despite the progress made under Mikel Arteta during the second half of last season, Arsenal are yet to find their best form during the early weeks of this campaign.

Just two victories have been recorded from their last half-a-dozen contests, both by 2-1 scorelines against Sheffield United and Rapid Vienna respectively.

Arteta will argue that the Gunners could have prevailed against Leicester City at the weekend had they not had a goal controversially ruled out by VAR, but the lack of response from the North London outfit will concern the Spaniard.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's form has also been criticised of late with the Gabon international scoring just once in his last six appearances.

Like he did last week, Arteta may use this competition to give the versatile attacker an opportunity to get back on track, potentially from the substitutes' bench with Manchester United to come on Sunday.

After being required to come from behind in Vienna, Arteta will be hoping for a more routine evening against the minnows of the group.

Dundalk looked on course for an eye-catching win over Molde last week before the Norwegian side netted twice during a 10-minute spell in the second half.

Having also suffered defeat at the hands of Waterford on Sunday, it leaves Filippo Giovagnoli with a major job on his hands to lift his squad ahead of the trip to the 2019 runners-up.

Goals have proven to be issue in recent weeks with just five coming in as many games, but Giovagnoli will be focused on avoiding a heavy defeat in England's capital.

Having come through the Tottenham Hotspur academy setup, Nathan Oduwa will hope to have recovered from a knock in order to feature in this game.

Arsenal Europa League form: W
Arsenal form (all competitions): LDWLWL

Dundalk Europa League form: WDWL
Dundalk form (all competitions): DWDWLL

Team News

Dijon goalkeeper Runar Alex Runarsson in Ligue 1 action against Paris Saint-Germain on February 29, 2020 © Reuters

Having had to remain patient for his Arsenal debut, goalkeeper Runar Alex Runarsson could be provided with an opportunity on Thursday night.

With David Luiz having suffered an injury at the weekend, Shkodran Mustafi should return for his first start of the season.

Cedric Soares, Mohamed Elneny, Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock are all in contention to make rare outings from the opening whistle.

As for Dundalk, Gary Rogers is expected to return between the sticks to replace former Wolverhampton Wanderers youngster Aaron McCarey.

Dane Massey is nursing a hip injury, while Oduwa may make the substitutes' bench if he can shake off a hamstring problem.

Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Runarsson; Soares, Mustafi, Gabriel, Kolasinac; Elneny, Ceballos; Nelson, Willock, Pepe; Nketiah

Dundalk possible starting lineup:
Rogers; Gannon, Cleary, Boyle, Dummigan; Mountney, Murray, Shields, Sloggett, Duffy; Hoban

SM words green background

We say: Arsenal 4-0 Dundalk

Dundalk will only be encouraged if, as expected, Arteta makes sweeping alterations to his first XI. However, this remains a stiff test for the minnows, and we would be surprised if the Gunners do not ease to victory with minimal fuss.

Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting that at least one team will not score (BTTS - no) in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Arsenal win with a probability of 67.17%. A draw had a probability of 21.8% and a win for Dundalk had a probability of 10.99%.

The most likely scoreline for an Arsenal win was 1-0 with a probability of 17.13%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (15.29%) and 3-0 (9.1%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 0-0 (9.6%), while for a Dundalk win it was 0-1 (5.36%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 9.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Arsenal would win this match.