AC Milan have a mountain to climb in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League last-sixteen tie against Arsenal, they need to win by at least two goals at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday. The Gunners secured a 2-0 victory at Giuseppe Meazza Stadium in the first leg last week, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Aaron Ramsey scored the goals. That was the second time Arsenal won at AC Milan, now the Gunners have taken the lead in the head-to-head record with three victories compared to just two for the Italians.
After a terrible run of four consecutive defeats, Arsenal seem to have regained composure as they secured two consecutive wins last week: 2-0 at AC Milan on Thursday and then 3-0 at home against Watford in the Premier League on Sunday. The Gunners had not recorded consecutive wins since January, but they will need to continue to play well on Thursday because AC Milan are definitely capable of turning things around. Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal missed the last two matches but should be ready to make their returns on Thursday, while Shkodran Mustafi might miss out along with Alexandre Lacazette.
AC Milan recovered from last Thursday's defeat against Arsenal with a 1-0 victory at Genoa in Serie A last weekend, but they will need to do a lot better to turn things around at the Emirates Stadium. The first leg result looks like an accident for AC Milan as they had not lost a match since December and had not conceded a single goal in the previous six matches in all competitions. Ignazio Abate and Andrea Conti are injured and won't be able to play in Thursday's match.
Probable line-ups:
Arsenal: Ospina - Bellerin, Holding, Koscielny, Monreal - Ramsey, Xhaka - Mkhitaryan, Wilshere, Ozil - Welbeck
AC Milan: Donnarumma - Calabria, Bonucci, Romagnoli, Rodriguez - Kessie, Biglia, Bonaventura - Suso, Cutrone, Calhanoglu
My prediction: 2-2 draw.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Arsenal win - 2.00
Draw - 3.75
AC Milan win - 3.79
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Comments (1)
sharpe
03/16/18, 04:03:32 PM
In fact Milan played a lot better in this game than the first one. The end score of 3-1 doesn't exactly show the real picture on the field and I think if not...
In fact Milan played a lot better in this game than the first one. The end score of 3-1 doesn't exactly show the real picture on the field and I think if not win the Italians could easily at least take a draw in that. Arsenal were really lucky to get a penalty in situation that there's wasn't any foul really and right after Milan opening goal too, that really change the course of the game.
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