Arsenal v Olympiakos Betting Tips: Arteta’s side to make last 16?

Odds and preview for Europa League Round of 32 second leg

A late Alexandre Lacazette goal in Athens means Arsenal head into their Europa League second leg against Olympiakos in a very strong position, with one foot in the draw for the last 16.

But the Greek side almost caused an upset in their first visit to North London this season, going 2-0 up early on against Arsenal’s rivals Tottenham in the Champions League before eventually losing 4-2.

The game gets underway at 20:00 on BT Sport 3HD and we’ve got all the pre-match odds and info right here…

Match Odds

The Gunners have left themselves in a great position, with either a win or draw enough to see them through to the next round. Mikel Arteta’s side are 1/2 to win on the night, and we’ve got the draw priced up at 13/4.

With either result enough for Arsenal, our traders have them as odds-on favourites to advance to the next round at 1/12.

Could Olympiakos go one better than they did when they played Tottenham and bag a shock win in North London? They’re outsiders at 11/2 on the night, or 6/1 to qualify for the last 16.

Form

Arsenal haven’t lost in any competition since December, with their last defeat coming against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

They came from behind at the weekend to beat Everton 3-2 at the Emirates despite an early wobble, in an impressive team performance, with the North London side showing real signs of progress under Arteta.

Olympiakos bounced back at the weekend, picking up a crucial away league win at second-placed PAOK, despite being dominated for much of the match. That win leaves them five points clear at the top of the Greek Super League.

They’ll look to take the confidence from that win to the Emirates in the hope of a huge upset.

Likely XIs

Arsenal look likely to welcome back Lucas Torreira after the Uruguayan midfielder missed out on the first leg through illness. Reiss Nelson returned to the bench at the weekend, and it’s likely he’ll retain his place there, narrowly missing out to Nicolas Pepe.

The Gunners are now without their two first choice left-backs due to injury, with long-term absentee Kieran Tierney still no closer to a return, and Sead Kolasinac out after suffering a serious shoulder injury against Everton on Sunday.

Elsewhere, Pablo Mari is still doubtful to make a first appearance, with Cedric Soares and Callum Chambers also missing.

The Greek side don’t have too many concerns, but they’ll have to play the second leg without Ruben Semedo, with the Portuguese defender banned due to an accumulation of bookings in European competitions this season.

Their only other absentee is Hillal Soudani, who remains out for the season with a cruciate ligament rupture.

Key Battles

With so many strong options in attack for Arsenal, it’ll be down to the Olympiakos back four to deal with whatever is thrown at them.

Arteta will hope to be able to rest Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for the league, but they’ve got an abundance of back up options like Lacazette, Gabriel Martinelli and Eddie Nketiah, before dipping into their options on the wing such as Pepe, Nelson and Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

Without Semedo, it’s likely Pape Abou Cisse will partner Oussynou Ba in central defence. Along with goalkeeper Jose Sa, it’ll be their job to restrict the shots on target, as the Arsenal attackers won’t need too many chances to tuck them away.

Olympiakos will look to the experience of Mathieu Valbuena and Youssef El-Arabi to trouble the Arsenal defensive unit, but David Luiz and Shkodran Mustafi should have the experience to see off the danger.

Goalscorer Odds

If Arteta does go with Aubameyang upfront, we’ve got him as the favourite to break the deadlock at the Emirates at 23/10, but the Gabonese striker 8/11 to score anytime.

Lacazette gave Arsenal the first-leg advantage, and we’ve got the Frenchman at 13/10 to bag anytime, or you could get 13/2 on two or more in the second leg.

El-Arabi looks best placed to give trouble Arsenal, and we’ve got 15/2 on the Moroccan scoring first. Think he’ll get his name on the scoresheet? He’s an 11/4 anytime scorer.

Could we see Valbuena roll back the years and put in a vintage performance? He’s 9/2 to net anytime.

View the latest Arsenal v Olympiakos odds.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.