Europa League QF Preview: Arsenal v CSKA Moscow; The Gunner’s Only Path to Glory Goes Through Russia

It is the single path of glory that remains for Arsenal. If they are going to get anything from this season, then winning the Europa league is a must. Win the Europa League and Champion’s League is ours again.

But as with all things, it’s never easy with Arsenal and we just don’t know what to expect from a side that continues to collectively deceive us in understanding who they are.

For 70+ minutes against Stoke City, we looked abject, devoid of inspiration. Then a questionable penalty call, opened the game up and Arsenal went on to route an opponent they no business losing to anyway. Though they contrived quite hard to do so.

The league prior – against Watford the same Arsenal side tore through Watford (arguably a better side than Stoke) like butter. The landscape of the 2017/2018 season is littered with similar examples of brilliance and brittleness. The question is doe the Arsenal even have it in themselves to go on one of their end of season traditional runs?

It can start tonight with an emphatic performance at home against a Russian side who don’t have a lot of luck against the English. This is CSKA’s 20th European fixture against English opposition and their record sits at W3 D5 L11. Their last match in England was a 2-1 group defeat to Manchester United in this year’s Champion’s League.

Arsenal through all competitions have been solid with only three losses through the year in all competitions. In the Europa league it was the second leg to Ostersunds. They emphatically dispatched Milan who did make it a little scary on the return leg to London.

Against Russian opposition, Arsenal have a negative overall record in UEFA competition (W2 D2 L4) but a positive one at home (W2 D1 L1).  CSKA got the better of Arsenal when the two teams were paired in the 2006/07 UEFA Champion’s League group stage, winning 1-0 in Moscow with a Daniel Carvalho free-kick and becoming the first visiting team to prevent the Gunners from scoring in their new stadium when they drew the return fixture 0-0.

It frankly doesn’t mean much right now. We simply don’t know what Arsenal will show up. All those stats could be meaningful if Arsenal showed some level of consistency. The fact remains we’ve been crap for a better part of the year so you might as well toss everything out the window.

Of course we are all wondering who Wenger will bring into the side to start the match. We expect that the switch to Ospina for the league match versus Stoke was a pivot to bring Cech into the final rounds of the Europa League. Additionally, other players were left on the bench versus Stoke in a nod to the boss starting a strong side tonight.

If Arsenal have any shot at glory it is through this competition. If we want to even eek into the Champion’s League again and end the misery that is Thursday/Sunday football, then they have to win this competition. That means Wenger has to go against his better judgement and forget about the league and focus on this moment – tonight and all remaining Thursday nights he has to dig deep into his bag of tricks and compel a group of players (who look like they couldn’t be arsed to play for him) to show that they can win a trophy (and play like it.)

Players to Watch:
Arsenal. Alexandre Lacazette. I don’t buy Wenger’s tepid response to whether he will start tonight. He’ll start and he needs to start. Danny just isn’t delivering the goods up top. We need a bona fide striker and he is one.

CSKA. Igor Akinfeev. The goalkeeper is remnant of the last side that played Arsenal in 2006/2007. The Russian netminder has played every minute of his team’s European campaign this season, keeping seven clean sheets in 14 matches.

Arsenal Probable Lineup:

Injuries and Suspensions:
Arsenal: Cazorla (Achilles), Aubemayang (inelligble)

CSKA: Nababkin (suspended), Vasin (knee), Gordyushenko (meniscus), Fernandes (hamstring)

Form: (Courtesy Kickoff.co.uk)

What the Manager Says (Courtesy Arsenal.com: )

“When you play at home in the first leg, you don’t know exactly what you have to achieve. Usually when you play the second game at home, you know exactly what kind of result you need and that’s not the case in the first. You’re a bit more in a situation where you know you have to do both things well – defend and attack well – without knowing exactly what will be needed to qualify.”

“The weight of an away goal is important in Europe. Ideally, you don’t want to concede but even if you do concede, you still want to win the game. You don’t stop playing if you concede a goal. Ideally, you want to combine both scoring goals and not conceding, but the situations are not always ideal. When you play away from home, you have the same advantage.”

YAMA Predicts:
Arsenal 2 – 0 CSKA

Match Facts (Courtesy UEFA.com Press Kit)

• Arsenal’s eight-match unbeaten home run in UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League matches (W6 D2) came to an end in the round of 32 with a 2-1 defeat by Östersund, although they bounced back by beating Milan 3-1.
• Prior to that victory over the Rossoneri the Gunners had lost each of their previous six European home games in the spring, conceding 17 goals. They have not kept a clean sheet in seven.
• Arsenal have prolonged their European campaign into the spring for the 19th successive year – all under Arsène Wenger’s management.
• Arsenal are making their UEFA Europa League debut this season. Their last European campaign outside the UEFA Champions League was the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup, which ended with a penalty shoot-out defeat in the final against Galatasaray. They overcame Werder Bremen in that season’s quarter-final, winning 2-0 at home and 4-2 away.
• The Gunners’ record in UEFA competition quarter-final ties is W6 L5, although they have lost four of their last six – all in the UEFA Champions League. In five of those six successful quarter-finals, they won the home leg, drawing the other. In only one of the five unsuccessful ties did they post a victory at home (D2 L2).
• Arsenal are on a four-match winning streak in all competitions, having lost all of their four previous fixtures; CSKA have won all three of their Russian league games in 2018.
• CSKA have won five of their seven European away fixtures this season, including 2-1 victories at Benfica and Basel in the UEFA Champions League group stage. Their only away defeat is that 2-1 reverse at Manchester United.
• CSKA have won six of their last nine UEFA Europa League away games, including qualifying, losing only one – a 2010/11 round of 16 encounter in Porto (1-2).
• Like UEFA Europa League debutants Arsenal, CSKA have never previously participated in the quarter-finals of the renamed competition. This is the club’s third appearance in a European quarter-final. They won the first of them, 4-2 on aggregate against Auxerre (4-0 home, 0-2 away), en route to winning the 2004/05 UEFA Cup, but lost the other, going down 1-0 in both legs to Internazionale in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League.
• CSKA were runners-up to city rivals Spartak Moskva in last season’s Russian Premier League. To reach the UEFA Champions League group stage they came through two qualifying rounds, defeating both AEK Athens and Young Boys 3-0 on aggregate.

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