Europa League matchday four preview: Arsenal and United look to cement their qualification

Matchday four sees Arsenal travel to Bodo/Glimt and Manchester United host Omonia Nicosia. Expecting to win, can the Premier League giants take another step towards qualification?

We preview the midweek action below.

Another routine trip for Arsenal?

The Premier League leaders have struggled in Europe in recent years, but after a more than impressive start in the Premier League, they have established themselves as early front-runners for the title.

They take on Bodo/Glimt in the reverse of the fixture that saw them win 3-0 at home last week in a match that could have seen the Gunners run away with two or three more if they had been more clinical in front of goal.

Arsenal are 2/5 to win here, and based on their current form, this should be a reasonably comfortable win for the team that has only failed to win once in their opening nine Premier League games. The man leading them from the front, Gabriel Jesus, will likely have a say in this game if he starts and is 19/20 to score at any time.

However, it will likely be Eddie Nketiah starting up front after a good performance last week that saw him score Arsenal’s opening goal. He is 7/2 to score first this time and is 11/10 to net at any time.

Arsenal have been very strong defensively this term and look unlikely to concede against the Norwegian team. They are 6/5 to keep a clean sheet.

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Manchester United chasing another title?

Showing signs of great form under Erik ten Hag, Manchester United would have expected to do better against Omonoia Nicosia last week, despite claiming a victory that cemented their second-place position in Group E.

They looked to be struggling in the opening phases of the match, and their worries materialised in the 34th minute when they went behind to a well-worked Omonoia goal. Their highly-rated players then found a way of pulling some quality out of the bag but not without another scare in the 85th minute that put Omonoia within one goal of equalising.

United are the 1/16 favourites and playing under the lights at Old Trafford they have the ability to win by a number of goals. Marcus Rashford to score, Man Utd to win and over four goals in the match is 3/1 with boosted odds.

Proving almost incapable of keeping a clean sheet, it seems likely that the Cypriot side will have some good chances to deal some damage to the hosts; their biggest threat is looking to come from Karim Ansarifard, who is 7/1 to net at any time.

The god of European football, Cristiano Ronaldo, will almost certainly make an appearance, having not featured much in the Premier League, but with Erik ten Hag sure to rotate his squad. CR7 always finds a way to have his say on European nights and is 2/5 to score at any time and 2/1 to score two or more goals.

European giants to make a statement?

AS Roma, the winners of the Europa Conference League in 2021/22, are in a precarious position in this year’s Europa League and, without a win here, could find themselves unable to qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament.

They are the 7/4 underdogs coming up against a Real Betis that will secure first place in the group with a win, and looking at their performances so far in the Europa League, it might be another year playing in the Conference League for Jose Mourinho’s men.

Betis are 6/4 to win and look set to make the knockout stages as one of the standout sides of the competition so far, having won all three of their games.

The odds suggest it will be a very close affair with little separating the sides. Both teams to score is undoubtedly on the cards at 8/11, with an exciting, tightly fought battle a likely occurrence considering the outcome of the first tie that saw 25 shots taken altogether. The odds for the match to feature over two goals, over three cards, and over ten corners are 4/1.

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