UEFA Europa League: Arsenal vs. PSV Preview, Odds, Prediction

Arsenal meets PSV in the delayed game of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday afternoon. The two teams couldn’t play their meeting earlier because the English team couldn’t appear on the pitch following Queen Elizabeth’s death. The Gunners postponed their game against Manchester City on Wednesday to play this one, and for the moment, we don’t know whether it is that good or bad, keeping in mind that the Citizens suffered a loss to Liverpool on Sunday afternoon. PSV is accelerating, playing very well in the past three weeks, and posting some big wins with impressive results.

Preview

Arsenal (-200) has seven wins in a row, and they are still topping the English Premier League standings. Besides that, the Gunners are first in their UEFA Europa League group, having three wins in three appearances. In fact, the only game in which they didn’t post a victory since the campaign began was against United at Old Trafford.

As we mentioned, the Gunners have seven wins in a row, and five of them came with clean sheets. It is a new quality in Arteta’s system because Arsenal was mostly offensive-oriented up until the previous few weeks.

They would crush the rivals through a hard and very efficient attack, which by the way, didn’t slow down at all, even though the previous two games ended 1-0 in Arsenal’s favor, vs. Bodo and Leeds.

PSV (+500) comes off a massive 6-1 victory over Utrecht, the third time in the past four games that the former European champions scored at least five goals in one event. We’ve seen them demolishing Zurich in the Europa League, 1-5 on the road and 5-0 at home, and in the meantime, PSV was better than Heerenveen away from Phillips Stadium, 0-1.

PSV’s games road trips have been efficient. They’ve opened the season a bit earlier than normal because of the UCL qualifiers. That’s why Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s crew has nine away matches, with five wins, two draws and two defeats.

Seven of those meetings were with over 2.5 goals, and the same number saw goals on both sides. It suggests that PSV plays open and straightforward, not minding about the venue.

Latest News

Elneny, Smith Rowe and Zinchenko are all out and won’t play. Arteta will mix the lineup, that is for sure because he usually rests Jesus and other guys in the UEL.

PSV’s injury report is filled with names. Boscagli, Fofana, Madueke, Mauro Junior, Saibari, Vertessen, de Jong, van Ginkel all of them are out.

Head to Head Games

The most recent meetings were 15 years ago, once PSV eliminated Arsenal in the UCL 1/8 finals, winning 1-0 at home, and then playing 1-1 on the road in London.

Prediction

Arsenal is first in the group with nine points, PSV second with seven, both teams having one game fewer than the rivals. The comfortable position regarding the knockout-stage race should cause a more relaxing approach and offensive-minded tactics on both sides. That’s why both teams to score, and over 2.5 goals is our pick here, with the current odds sitting at -125.

Pick: Both teams to score and Over 2.5 goals -125