Football Results

After the Champions League we are going to find out semi-finalists in the Europa League on Thursday evening when all 2nd leg matches will be played in this UEFA’s club competition. True, in one of them Arsenal from London has made a great step toward the semi-finals given that it won CSKA Moscow by even 4-1 at home seven days ago, which was at the same time CSKA’s first defeat in their so far three head-to-head.

CSKA Moscow

Now, the Muscovites say that will give their best to annul in front of their fans minus of three goals from London, especially as they managed to score at least once in each of six previous matches. True, this time they have to be exemplary efficient in order to eliminated the Gunners from the Europa League, while at the same time their defence should do a much better job than it did at the Emirates seven days ago.

How much is in fact CSKA vulnerable could be best seen in their last league match, which they lost at home to the city rival Dinamo three days ago by 2-1. The defeat put an end at the same time to CSKA’s series of three consecutive wins in the Russian Premier League, while at the same time their backlog behind leading Lokomotive has increased again to even eight points. Besides, defender Schennikov got injured in the match, while besides him out of action due to the same reason are defenders Fernandes and Vasin.

Probable lineups CSKA Moscow: Akinfeev – V. Berezutski, Ignashevich, A. Berezutski – Nababkin, Dzagoev, Natcho, Golovin, Kuchaev – Wernbloom, Musa

Arsenal

Unlike the Muscovites, the Gunners from London are far more relaxed ahead of this quarter-final match of the Europa League as seven days ago they fairly easily won CSKA by 4-1. It means that they are just a step away from reaching the semi-finals of this competition, which is their only hope to play in the Champions League next season, given that at the moment they lag behind 4th-placed Tottenham for big 13 points.

True, in the English Premier League the Gunners won three home matches in a row, where the last one was won four days ago when they won Southampton 3-2. However, everyone could notice that Arsenal played against the Saints with pulled handbrake and with mixed team as at the moment the Europa League is far more important competition for them, so now in Moscow we expect to see the strongest team on the pitch, of course except for suspended forward Aubameyang and injured midfielders Cazola and Mkhitaryan.

Probable lineups Arsenal: Cech – Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal – Ramsey, Xhaka – Welbeck, Wilshere, Ozil – Lacazette

Verdict:

Given that Arsenal has advantage of even three goals after the 1st leg played in London, we expect from the Gunners to play more defensively and with an objective to not lose, while on the other hand the home team has no reason to be restrain and must play maximally offensively from the first minute.

Pick:  Asian handicap +0.1 CSKA Moscow 1.42 - 42/100 @1XBet