The UEFA Europa League is back, and one of the more high-profile ties of Matchday 1 sees Eintracht Frankfurt host Arsenal.
The Gunners finished 5th in the Premier League last season – one point outside of the Champions League places behind rivals Spurs – while Frankfurt scraped into seventh place in the Bundesliga to secure their spot in this season’s Europa League.
Both clubs had impressive runs in this competition last season, and will be hoping that their recent experience will help them progress deep into the tournament again this time around.
This is Frankfurt’s second successive Europa League appearance, and they were knocked out by eventual champions Chelsea at the semi-final stage last term.
Arsenal made it all the way to the final last season, only to be humiliated by their compatriots as Chelsea ran away with a 4-1 victory.
This is the Gunners’ third straight Europe League campaign following 17 consecutive seasons in the UEFA Champions League from 2000/01 to 2016/17.
Such pedigree makes Arsenal one of the favorites to lift the trophy this year, along with fellow English club Manchester United and five-time winners Sevilla.
This will be the first time that Frankfurt and Arsenal have ever played against each other and it’s set to be an exciting opening tie.
The two teams are the firm favorites to qualify for the next round, with Belgian club Standard Liege and Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes making up Group F.
Arsenal have made an unconvincing start the season, and threw away a 2-0 lead in their last match to eventually draw 2-2 with Watford.
They currently have a record of W2-D2-L1 in the Premier League and have conceded just as many goals as they have scored (8).
Nicolas Pepe has failed to get going since his big money move from Lille, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the club’s top goal scorer with 5.
On the other hand, Frankfurt have won 2 and lost 2 in the Bundesliga so far and are also sitting on a goal difference of 0.
They suffered a 2-1 defeat to Augsburg last time out, with Goncalo Paciencia claiming his third Bundesliga goal of the season.
Following indifferent domestic starts, both teams will be looking to find some form of consistency on the European stage. With that being said, Arsenal are likely to get to better of Frankfurt.
Forebet predicts that the Gunners will snatch the points on Thursday, and both teams to score is looking likely.