Arsenal start their Europa League campaign on Thursday night with a trip to Austria. Manager Mikel Arteta will aim for his side to bounce back after losing to Manchester City, 1-0, in the league last weekend.
It won’t be an easy trip to eastern Europe as Austria’s Rapid Wien will welcome them to the Allianz Stadion. Rapid Wien are second in the Bundesliga and just two points off of league leaders Red Bull Salzburg.
Rapid Wien joined the Europa League after elimination from the Champions League qualifying rounds. Since they lost to Gent in the qualifying rounds, Rapid Wien are unbeaten in four straight games. Last weekend, they claimed a 5-1 Austrian Cup win against Wiener Neustadt.
The Austrians will be filled with confidence and belief that they can take points off of Arsenal. The two clubs are joined in Group B by Ireland’s Dundalk and Norway’s Molde. The Gunners should top the group without issue and on paper, Rapid Wien are their biggest rival to win Group B.
Arsenal have posted a record of 4W-1D-2L in all competitions this season. Their losses came in the Premier League against top sides Liverpool and Manchester City. The Gunners were outscored 4-1 over the course of 180 minutes of football.
Outside of those games, the Gunners have played well. Their loss to Manchester City last weekend wasn’t a bad performance. The goal Arsenal conceded came from a rebound scored by Raheem Sterling. The defence was solid outside of that one goal.
Arsenal have scored 10 goals in all competitions and conceded six times. They average 1.43 goals scored per game and 0.86 scores conceded.
Rapid Wien have played eight games in all competitions registering a record of 6W-1D-1L. They have scored 22 goals in eight matches averaging 2.75 goals per game. However, 10 of those goals came in Austrian Cup matches against lower league teams.
The Green-Whites conceded just six times in eight games for an average of 0.75 per game. Defensively they have been good and should keep Arsenal from running away with a win.
Arteta is likely to rotate his side. He could rest the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Dani Ceballos. Although Arteta has five players listed as injured (Shkodran Mustafi, Pablo Mari, Gabriel Martinelli, Calum Chambers, Rob Holding), they should not affect the outcome of the game.
Rapid Wien will keep the scoreline low, but should struggle to get on the scoresheet. Arsenal should grab a victory away to kick off the group and start the journey to the Europa League knockout round.
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