ARSENAL return to the European stage tonight in Switzerland hoping to bounce back from a painful loss at Manchester United on Sunday.
The Gunners travel to Switzerland to take on a FC Zurich side who don't appear to value the notion of home advantage. The game will be played at St Gallen because their ground is hosting the Diamond League athletics event in a few days.
This is the same team who gave up home advantage in the play-off round too against Hearts because of a music concert on their ground. The result was a dismal attendance of only 5,347 with over 1,000 of those from Scotland. A visit from Arsenal will attract more, but it's a strange situation and can't help.
Zurich ran away with the Swiss League last season, but got off to a quite dreadful start under former Austria manager Franco Foda when they were knocked out of the Champions League by Qarabag.
And their league form has been atrocious – they are second bottom after just two points from seven games, which has yielded no wins.
Against Hearts in Edinburgh, they were very fortunate the hosts were reduced to ten men because they had been dominated previously, They eventually won 1-0 at Tynecastle to follow up their 2-1 victory at St Gallen
How the bookies view it
This is seen as a penalty kick for Arsenal, with the best price of just 1/3 with SBK reflecting that. The Swiss can be backed at 9/1 with Coral while the draw is 5/1 with bet365.
Recent head to heads
The clubs have never played each other in a competitive fixture.
Players to watch
FC Zurich midfielder Blerim Dzemaili may be 36 now but he scored against Hearts and is the Swiss side's penalty taker and is 19/2 to score anytime with SBK.
Gabriel Martinelli is an exciting talent and the young Brazilian prospect already has three goals this season. He is 6/4 to score on Thursday with Ladbrokes.
Anything else catch the eye?
Arsenal really should cruise through this against a side who are a shadow of the team who sauntered to Swiss League glory last season.
They are obviously too short to back on their own, but they will want to get that Old Trafford defeat out of their system and will be desperate to be quick out of the traps. The 19/20 for them to win half time and full time with Coral is perfectly acceptable.
The hosts have conceded six goals in their last two games and Mikel Arteta's side are capable of rattling up a few here. Paddy Power's 11/10 on Arsenal to score three goals or more looks solid.
Finally, Granit Xhaka has only been booked once this season. He was shown four yellow cards and a red card in a six-game spell last season and will want to put in extra effort in his homeland. Paddy Power's 5/2 on him being booked is worth a go.
This UEFA Europa League match between FC Zurich and Arsenal will be played on Sep 8, 2022 and kick off at 17:45. Check below for our tipsters best FC Zurich vs Arsenal prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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