UEL Round of 32 2nd Leg: Arsenal (1) v Benfica (1) | Thursday February 25 | KO: 17:55 UTC | BT Sport

[Mo Britain]

We'll edge this but it will be close, we were pretty disappointing in the first leg. Little confidence of us winning the EL but if we get a good draw in the next round and we begin to pick up some form, who knows?

 

[A_G]

We'll edge this but it will be close, we were pretty disappointing in the first leg. Little confidence of us winning the EL but if we get a good draw in the next round and we begin to pick up some form, who knows?

Might even get to play a game at the Emirates as well

 

[Red London]

The 1-1 makes this quite simple, just win the game. I hope Arteta doesn't try to play on the fact we have an away goal and make it a 0-0 or 1-0. I'd get it if it was 2-2 or 3-3 in the 'away' leg, but only 1 away goal means they can easily outdo us and if our plan is to prevent that we will be in a weak position.

Just go for the win.

 

[Rimaal]

Spoiler

I can see why you like predicting so much, the power is addictive. Be afraid

 

[Penn_]

People getting over confident like this wasn’t only last year.

 

[roz]

People getting over confident like this wasn’t only last year.

Olympiakos are levels better than Benfica. Obviously it was ridiculous to go out to them but it simply won’t happen on Thursday.

 

[James Bond]

Leno
Cedric Luiz Gabriel Tierney
Ceballos Xhaka
Saka ESR Pepe
PEA​

 

[Squillaci]

Expecting some Luiz masterclass tomorrow.

By masterclass I mean that Benfica will have one decent attack where he will somehow **** up and give away a penalty to them.

 

[GDeep™]

Benfica are one of the poorest teams we’ve played in recent years, in Europe, if you don’t count the minnows from the minor leagues.

Should be an easy win.

 

[Sweet'n'Soulful]

If we score more than them, we win. I we score less, we lose. 1-1 is bad. 2-2 is worse. Might be unpopular opinion, but whatever.

 

[tap-in]

I presume Arteta will go:

Leno
Bellerin Luiz Gabriel Tierney
Ceballos Xhaka
Saka Ødegaard Smith-Rowe
Aubameyang



​

That's the team I expect. I know Saka needs a rest but having him on the pitch is way better than having Pepe on the pitch. If we get a 2 or 3 nil lead then we can rest Saka. We can also rest him vs Leicester as this game is far more important.

 

[AberGooner]

That's the team I expect. I know Saka needs a rest but having him on the pitch is way better than having Pepe on the pitch. If we get a 2 or 3 nil lead then we can rest Saka. We can also rest him vs Leicester as this game is far more important.

I think of the players currently available this is the line up Arteta sees as his strongest and being that it's really our only way of getting Europe next season now, he has to favour this over the league.

 

[Sapient Hawk]

It would be typical Arsenal to get eliminated at the ground of the team that eliminated us from last year's 32 round

 

[<<reed>>]

should be an easy win by 2-3 goals

 

[tap-in]

I think of the players currently available this is the line up Arteta sees as his strongest and being that it's really our only way of getting Europe next season now, he has to favour this over the league.

I agree. If Auba had his shooting boots on last week we could have rested Saka this week.

 

[Legend14]

That's the team I expect. I know Saka needs a rest but having him on the pitch is way better than having Pepe on the pitch. If we get a 2 or 3 nil lead then we can rest Saka. We can also rest him vs Leicester as this game is far more important.

I expect to see...

ESR at 10, Saka to his right, Auba to his left. Laca up top. Need to switch it up. ESR is just a more influential player than Ødegaard and he works well with Laca.

4-0 Arsenal.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

Need a comfortable win to get some confidence back.

 

[dashsnow17]

Not to be too pessimistic, I still think we'll win, but i'll say it now cos to say it after a loss would be seen as an overreaction, but this game is probably much more important than just the context of this season.

Stillberto said it, the club's finances are not good in this pandemic, took out a loan to cover running costs, letting employees go. Our revenues have been declining as a result of EL, if we were to miss out on European football altogether in the same year our matchday revenue is non-existent while we're still paying some players CL wages...that is not a good recipe.

This is one of the hardest periods the club has ever faced, the coach steering us through it is a rookie, and we're 10th in the league with 90 minutes (and then 3 more rounds) to save our season. This could all go very wrong and it could have long-lasting consequences, that's a reality irregardless of how positive you are about Arteta right now.

 

[Make]

I'm still thinking we are gonna win the 2nd leg but we need to get our confidence back again. We were poor in the 1st leg and we played slowly with the ball and we coulnd't find 2 or 3 goals away.

However we have a chance to turn this situation around and get a win there. I believe in the team and we are able to do the best and the worst at the same time and now we need to be stronger than before and we will show them how we can play when we wish to win a match.

My prediction on Thursday would be 4-1 for Arsenal and we will send a message for the rest of the teams like we are the Arsenal and finally we're gonna win this competition

 

[Tourbillion]

If we score more than them, we win. I we score less, we lose. 1-1 is bad. 2-2 is worse. Might be unpopular opinion, but whatever.

2-2 is worse in the second leg? Obviously that would mean they have two away goals to our one.