Arsenal v Benfica Build-up & Predicted Score for ‘home’ clash

Arsenal will play host to the Portuguese giants Benfica in their ‘home’ leg of the Europa League this evening, with the match to be played in Athens.

I’m sure you are well aware, both legs of this round have been moved to neutral grounds following various countries’ protocols on travel amidst the Coronavirus pandemic.

What will be considered our ‘away’ leg was played in Rome last week, where we failed to make our dominance pay resulting in a 1-1 scoreline, and we now go to Greece in search of a win.

0-0 after 90 minutes would see us through, but that is too risky an aim, and we will be going out in search of goals.

Watching last week, I can’t help but feel like we had the tactical and technical advantage, and believe that we remain favourites for the tie despite the 1-1 final score.

Mikel Arteta has already described the fixture as ‘a final’ in his pre-match press conference, and I believe he will have that mentality in his players’ heads tonight, and that can only bring a focussed performance.

Arsenal’s loss to Man City at the weekend wasn’t a great watch, but Pep Guardiola’s side are in a crazy vein of form at present, and I feel like we have little reason to be downbeat going into the match today.

Benfica also failed to win, albeit against lesser opposition in Farense, which can only raise further question marks against them.

I’m feeling good about our chances, and can see us coming away with a 2-0 victory over the second 90 minutes, and feel like Aubameyang will be getting his name back on the scoresheet this evening.

What are your early predictions ahead of seeing the line-ups? Are we confident?

Patrick