Arsenal face a long and tough trip to Belarus as they face BATE Borisov on Thursday in the UEFA Europa League at the Borisov Arena. The two teams have never met before and Arsenal have never faced an opponent from Belarus either. BATE have had a single experience of playing against a team from the English Premier League, they faced Everton in the Europa League group stage in 2009 and they pulled off a massive surprise by winning 1-0 at Goodison Park after a 2-1 defeat at home.
BATE Borisov played no less than three preliminary rounds before reaching the Europa League group stage, they started in the Champions League but got knocked out by Slavia Prague. Then they entered the Europa League play-off and prevailed against Ukrainian side Oleksandriya. They started the group stage with a good 1-1 away draw at Red Star Belgrade and their hopes of qualification seem quite realistic. In the domestic league they are locked in a thrilling battle for the title, they are just one point behind second-placed Dinamo Minsk and two points behind leaders Soligorsk with seven matches left in the season.
Arsenal started the Europa League campaign with a 3-1 victory at home over FC Koln as they successfully fought back after trailing 1-0 at half-time. They are unbeaten in five matches in all competitions, a streak that started after the disastrous 4-0 defeat at Liverpool in the Premier League. On Monday they won 2-0 at home against West Bromwich Albion. Arsene Wenger will probably use this match to give the likes of Jack Wilshere or Ainsley Maitland-Niles a chance to prove themselves.
Probable line-ups:
BATE: Scherbitski - Rios, Gayduchik, Milunovic, Polyakov - Volodko, Dragun - Gordeychuk, Ivanic, Stasevic - Rodionov
Arsenal: Ospina - Holding, Mertesacker, Monreal - Bellerin, Elneny, Wilshere, Maitland-Niles - Walcott, Giroud, Iwobi
My prediction: Arsenal to win 3-0.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
BATE win - 7.00
Draw - 4.33
Arsenal win - 1.44
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