Europa League 2018/19, Arsenal vs Rennes: Match preview and predicted lineups

Preview

Arsenal host Ligue 1 team Rennes at the Emirates Stadium in London for the second leg of their R16 encounter of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday. The Gunners were mightily humiliated by the French team in the first leg with the scoreline reading 3-1 and they will be hoping for a quick turnaround in their fortunes.

Unai Emery's men will be expecting that home support will help them win over the mid-table team from France's Ligue 1 and they will be preparing to make some sacrifices along the way.

Arsenal comes into this game on the back of a convincing 2-0 win over Premier League giants Manchester United at home and Rennes too, have four wins in their last five matches.

Pierre Emerick Aubameyang will have to fire early if Arsenal is to have any hope of bringing the tie to some closure. Emery is most likely to play Alexandre Lacazette too alongside Aubameyang in the front line as he did against United on Sunday.

The Frenchman who has played in the Ligue 1 earlier with Lyon, has a fair idea of how Rennes operate and this knowledge will hold the key for him on Thursday. For Arsenal, center-back Sokratis will miss the game through suspension.

Rennes will be banking on their star man Hatem Ben Arfa to score and put the game beyond the Gunners' control. Although he did not score in the first leg, Ben Arfa was brilliant with the ball and highly efficient in front of the attack.

Benjamin Andre, Benjamin Bourigeaud and Ismalia Sarr will be the other key men for the French team and they will be hoping to create history by writing a new script at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday.

The clash will be officiated by Andris Treimanis and he will be assisted by Haralds Gudermanis and Aleksejs Spasjonnikovs, all of whom hail from Latvia.

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Predicted line ups:

Arsenal

Goalkeeper: Petr Cech

Defenders: Nacho Monreal, Shkodran Mustafi, Laurent Koscielny

Midfielders: Sead Kolasinac, Granit Xhaka, Mateo Guendouzi, Mesut Ozil, Ainsley Maitland Niles

Forwards: Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang

Rennes

Goalkeeper: Tomas Koubek

Defenders: Ramy Bensenbaimy, Mexer, Damian Da Silva, Mehdi Zeffane

Midfielders: Benjamin Andre, Benjamin Bourigeaud, Clement Grenier, Ismalia Sarr

Forwards: Adrien Hunou, Hatem Ben Arfa.