Can Rapid Vienna break Arsenal’s 100% Europa League record?

Arsenal vs Rapid Wien - 03/12/2020

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02/12/20

Can Rapid Vienna break Arsenal’s 100% Europa League record?

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Arsenal will be looking to put their domestic woes aside and maintain their 100% record in the Europa League when Rapid Vienna visit the Emirates Stadium on Thursday.

Four wins from their opening four matches mean the Gunners are six points clear at the top of Group B, while third-place Rapid Vienna are level on six points with second-place Molde.

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Arsenal may be flying along in Europe, but their Premier League form has been poor. In fact, they have made their worst start to a top-flight season since the 1981/82 season.

Mikel Arteta’s men have only managed to win one of their previous six league matches, picking up just a single point from their last three outings.

After losing 3-0 to Aston Villa, Arsenal were held to a goalless draw by Leeds United, before suffering a 2-1 defeat to Wolves on Sunday.

The defeat to Wolves has left the Gunners all the way down in 14th place in the Premier League table – seven points clear of the bottom three and eight points off top spot.

However, in the Europa League, it has been a completely different story. Arsenal have netted over 2.5 goals in each of their last three wins and have kept two clean sheets in that time.

Meanwhile, Rapid Vienna kicked off their Europa League campaign with back-to-back defeats, but have since turned things around.

The Austrian side beat Irish minnows Dundalk 4-3 on Matchday 3, before securing a 3-1 victory over the same opponents in the reverse fixture.

Rapid Vienna find themselves third in the Austrian Bundesliga standings – two points behind second-place LASK and four points behind frontrunners RB Salzburg.

The capital club have only lost one of their nine domestic games this term, although they have only managed to pick up two points from a possible nine in recent weeks.

It is also worth pointing out that Rapid Vienna have conceded seven goals in their four Europa League outings this season. That’s an average of 1.75 goals per game.

Head-to-head: These two sides met on Matchday 1, with Arsenal coming from behind to clinch a 2-1 victory in Austria.

Taxiarchis Fountas put the Austrians ahead early in the second half, but two late goals from David Luiz and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang saw the Gunners flip the game on its head.

Team news: Rapid Vienna have a number of notable absentees, with midfield duo Dejan Ljubicic and Dejan Petrovic the last injury casualties.

Arsenal will be without Thomas Partey on Thursday, while David Luiz will be assessed following a nasty head collision with Wolves’ Raul Jimenez last weekend.

It is no secret that the Gunners have been poor in the Premier League this term. Still, they have found life relatively easy in the Europa League.