Match Preview; Arsenal v FC Vorskla; The Squad Rotation Game

And so it begins, the only competition that matters in Europe, the pseudo psycho grand damn of them the all the Europa League. Otherwise known as the Mediocrity Cup, it is the competition that sees your favorite team square off against teams you’ve never even dreamed existed, like Arsenal’s first opponent, FC Vorskla.

If you’ve heard of them, you are a far greater football hipster than I. When the draw came out, I scrambled to find out that they were from the Ukraine. And that my friends is the extent of what I know about them.

What this match really means for Arsenal supporters, is we get a first look at how Unai Emery will handle alternative competitions like the Europa League and the domestic cups. In his pre-game presser, he stated every player has to be ready to go. While that’s admirable, the question is it practical.

It might have worked for Emery at Sevilla, with a smaller club and in a league that was, shall we say, less vigorous than Premier League. The Premier League is a grind and it takes it’s toll on the players. Having a squad rotation policy for these secondary competitions make sense.

There are players who haven’t had a sniff that an opponent of this “stature” should see the light of day. We’re talking the Elneny’s of the world. But it’s also a time for players to show that they should also merit consideration for the Premier League squad.

Players like Bernd Leno can show his ability by playing out of the back and doing it well, even against an opponent without any similarity in the Premier League.

Emery has shown he can manage this competition well. He’s won it 3 times in a row, which is no small feat and it’s what earned him his eventual move to manage PSG. So, in some respect we’ve got to trust that he knows what he’s doing.

But he’s never had to manage a schedule like this with a league that is so inflexible in terms of supporting its teams playing in outside competitions like the Champion’s or Europa Leagues. He’ll have to be careful with the team selection especially with a tough match against Everton set for Sunday.

Both teams head into this match with 3 league wins in their last 5 matches. Arsenal even though rotation is expected will continue to build the momentum they need to full integrate into Emery’s style of play.

With an eye towards Sunday, Emery has to be careful here and insure the right balance of competitiveness while resting key players for Sunday. Given the nature of the opponent, it is a very good time for him to rotate judiciously.

THE COACH’S TAKE (Courtesy Arsenal.com)

 For me, every match, each moment, is about finding the best performance with the players. We have four competitions this season. Tomorrow is the Europa League, Sunday is Premier League, then it’s Carabao Cup and then we’re going to play in FA Cup. I want the same thing for every player because each match is important. The second situation is that we need to give minutes to the players who can produce the best performance for us. The best 11 will play tomorrow so that we can continue to improve in our way both tactically and individually. What’s important for us is to produce a winning performance but also to continue to improve.

 I told the players the same thing that I’ll tell you. The Premier League is the first competition because it’s giving us a big responsibility, maybe bigger than the others, in the season. There are 38 matches, so your first analysis is like this. Other competitions are very important too. Today, we are only thinking about giving our supporters the first performance and a good 90 minutes on the pitch at the Emirates. We are excited about every match. I want to give the players the same excitement when they are at the Emirates. Then we are going to think about Sunday. First is tomorrow. Tomorrow we are going to change things to give players the opportunity to find minutes, to find confidence on the pitch and then maybe tomorrow’s players can play on Sunday too.

PROBABLE ARSENAL LINEUP
Leno; Lichtsteiner, Mavropanos, Holding, Monreal; Guendouzi, Elneny, Smith-Rowe; Welbeck; Lacazette, Mkhitaryan

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Bart Vertenten (BEL)
Assistant referees: Rien Vanyzere (BEL), Thibaud Nijssen (BEL)
Additional assistant referees: Lawrence Visser (BEL), Bram Van Driessche (BEL)
Fourth official: Yves De Neve (BEL)

BROADCAST INFORMATION
UK: BT Sport 20.00 GMT
US: Bleacher Report Live 3:00 PM EST

MATCH FACTS (Courtesy UEFA.com)

• The Gunners finished sixth in the 2017/18 Premier League – their lowest final placing under Arsène Wenger in his swansong season as manager after 22 years. It did earn them a second successive qualification for the UEFA Europa League group stage.
• UEFA Champions League ever-presents for 19 successive seasons until last term, Arsenal reached the UEFA Europa League semi-finals at the first attempt, going out to eventual winners Atlético Madrid. Their home record during that run was W4 D2 L1, the only defeat coming in the round of 32 against Östersund (1-2) after they had won the first leg 3-0 in Sweden.
• The 1999/2000 UEFA Cup runners-up won last season’s UEFA Europa League group stage opener 3-1 at home to Köln. The last time the Gunners failed to win at home on matchday one was in 2003/04, when they lost 3-0 to Internazionale Milano at Highbury in the UEFA Champions League
• Whereas Vorskla are meeting English opposition for the first time, Arsenal have faced Ukrainian clubs on ten previous occasions and have a perfectly even record of four wins, four defeats, 15 goals scored and the same number conceded
• At home the London side are unbeaten against Ukrainian visitors, winning four of the five games, all in the UEFA Champions League group stage, and drawing the other – 1-1 against Dynamo Kyiv at Wembley Stadium in 1998/99, when the visitors scored an added-time equalize

YAMA PREDICTS
Arsenal 3 – 0 FC Vorskla