BATE v Arsenal Betting Preview – UEFA Europa League 28th September 7.45pm
Arsenal heads out on the road for the first time this season in the Europa League. They will be looking to build on their home win over Cologne a fortnight ago and the matches get easier for them now. They head to Belarus to face BATE who could only manage a draw in their opening game against Crvena Zvezda. Yep, an evening full of excitement ahead for Gunners fans.
BATE v Arsenal Betting Tips
So Belarusian side BATE have a bit of decent home form going. They are unbeaten in their last seven games on home soil in Europe. This will be their first game against the Gunners and they are actually the only side in competition in Group H this season who have had prior Europa League experience in the group stage. They will be a little disappointed with their 1-1 draw at Crvena Zvezda on match day one and overall they really aren’t as strong as they have been in past seasons. They were in the Champions League qualifying rounds, but dropped from that and just edged out Europa League novices Oleksandria in the Europa League play offs to get here. So they may not be as difficult as they have been in recent European seasons. Under 2.5 goals at bet365 returns a price of 6/5 as this is, after all the Europa League and Arsenal won’t be at their strongest. The last side to beat BATE in Belarus was Barcelona in the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League group stage.
BATE have previous experience against English sides as they faced Everton in the 2009/10 Europa League and lost 2-1 at home but won 1-0 away. Arsenal do look shaky at the back and were exposed badly by West Brom of all sides on Monday night as Jay Rodriguez should have had a hattrick for the Baggies, but somehow Arsenal survived for a win. Both teams to score at bet365 is a price of 10/11. It is likely that Olivier Giroud will get a start as he wasn’t in the starting eleven for their Premier League action on Monday against West Brom and the Frenchman is a price of 4/5 in the bet365 anytime goalscorer market for the game. This will be Arsenal’s first game against a Belarusian opponent. After falling behind at home against Cologne on Match Day One, Arsenal recovered for a win and that was their first win in Europe in the 2017 calendar year. This is the debut Europa League campaign for Arsenal but the last time that they were in the UEFA Cup back in the 1999/2000 season they reached the final where they lost to Galatasaray on penalties.
BATE v Arsenal Betting Odds
Arsenal 2/5, Draw 7/2, BATE 13/2
BATE v Arsenal Predictions
Arsenal to win: The margin of victory is going to be dependant on what kind of side Arsenal have on the pitch and how much they care about this. It will probably be a fairly sedate game realistically and Arsenal to win to nil is going to have some appeal.
