Arsenal vs Eintracht Frankfurt Preview - Team news, lineups, prediction
Matchday 5 of the Europa League is upon us. Arsenal will go into battle against Eintracht Frankfurt this Thursday night as the German team visit Emirates in what should be an exciting game.
The Gunners currently sit top of Group F in the Europa League with 10 points, with the visitors sitting on third place with 6 points. Arsenal is winless in their last six games as pressure is starting to mount on Unai Emery. A confident Frankfurt's recent demolition of Bayern Munich led to the sacking of Niko Kovac; a similar result in London could mean the end of Emery at Emirates too.
Team News
Arsenal will be without the services of Dani Ceballos, who is out of the game with a thigh injury. The Gunners will also assess Sead Kolasinac, Rob Holding and Bukayo Saka, who are all struggling with injuries and may not return in time for this game.
Unai Emery is expected to rotate the squad, as he usually does in the early stages of a competition.
Frankfurt will be playing without defender Marco Russ and goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, who have been injured for quite a while. Apart from these two, the Bundesliga club has a fully-fit squad to choose from.
Injuries
Arsenal - Dani Ceballos, Sead Kolasinac, Rob Holding and Bukayo Saka
Eintracht Frankfurt - Kevin Trapp and Marco Russ
Recent form
Arsenal is not facing a good spell right now - they have not won a single Premier League game since 6th October, and they crashed out of the English League Cup on penalties against Liverpool.
However, the North London club sits comfortably atop their Europa League group, and need only one point to confirm their qualification to the next round. A victory would cement their status as group leaders going into the round of 16.
The last meeting between these two clubs ended well for Arsenal, who won 3-0 after Frankfurt defender Dominik Kohr was shown a red card.
Frankfurt has struggled recently, losing their last three games across all competitions since their famous 5-1 thrashing of Bayern Munich.
The club has the same points as second-placed Standard Liege in the Europa League, and any points in London would go a long way in helping them qualify for the next stages. A defeat would, however, dampen their chances of qualification.
Arsenal form (all competitions): DLDDLD
Eintracht Frankfurt form (all competition): LWWLLL
Expected line-ups
Arsenal - Martinez; Chambers, Mustafi, Mavropanos, Tierney; Torreira, Willock; Maitland-Niles, Smith Rowe, Nelson; Martinelli
Eintracht Frankfurt - Ronnow; Abraham, Hasebe, Hinteregger; Da Costa, Fernandes, Rode, Kostic; Sow; Paciencia, Silva
Prediction
Arsenal 1 - 1 Eintracht Frankfurt
Also check out:EPL fixtures EPL table UCL schedule