Arsenal have had several memorable Europa League runs in recent years, even if fans would have preferred the team to be playing in the Champions League. The Gunners reached 2019 final under Unai Emery, while the previous season saw them narrowly beaten by Atletico Madrid at the semi-final stage. This year’s competition sees Arsenal enter at the group stage, having beaten Chelsea in the 2020 FA Cup final, and fans will feel confident of making it through the group at the very least. Respected prediction model FiveThirtyEight gives Arsenal a better chance of reaching the knockout stage than any other team in the competition. Two other sides have a 90% chance of making it through their group, just behind Arsenal’s 91%, and both will be familiar to fans of the club. Tottenham’s friendly draw means it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to see them near the top of FiveThirtyEight’s charts. The other side at 90%? None other than Unai Emery’s Villarreal, who are 70% to top a group containing Qarabag, Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Sivvaspor and 20% to finish as runners-up.
Source: Football.london/ *Join us on Telegram!