Charlie Nicholas expects wins for both Arsenal and Chelsea

Arsenal begin their Europa League campaign on Thursday at home to Vorskla Poltava.

The Gunners will be hoping Unai Emery’s stardust on the competition will help see them go one further than their semi-final place last season and lift the trophy in May.

Last season saw Arsene Wenger use the competition as a breakthrough for his young guns to establish themselves.

Teenager Emile Smith-Rowe is tipped to make his debut senior appearance at the Emirates.

In his Sky Sports column, Nicholas expects hostile changes in an Arsenal win.

‘I imagine there will be a lot of changes with the likes of Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan coming in, so it will still be a strong enough team for me to expect Arsenal to win this.

‘The way Arsenal play they don’t do clean sheets, so I am going to go for a 2-1 win and Mkhitaryan to score first.’

Arsenal are joined by Chelsea who are travelling to Greece to face PAOK. Former Arsenal man Nicholas predicts a difficult game for the Blues, but expects them to edge out 1-0 winners.

Gooners who would you like to see Emery give game time to on Thursday? Let us know in the comments…