Former Gunner Charlie Nicholas reckons that Arsenal will win away to BATE Borisov on Thursday night as a result of fielding a strong team.

Arsenal travel to Belarus to face BATE Borisov on Thursday for their second Europa League clash of the season and Nicholas believes it’ll be a comfortable 3-1 victory for his former team.

“Arsenal are going to have a strong team because I imagine Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere are going to get a good run out again,” he told Sky Sports.

“I think a decent bit of momentum is building with a few good results racked up thanks to some solid defensive performances.

“This is where the healthy competition really starts to shine through. Players don’t mind battling for their places when the team is winning and the attitude should be positive.

“Arsene Wenger has good options to rotate and I’d be looking at them to win by a couple of goals here, with a few different names getting themselves on the scoresheet.”

Arsenal beat FC Cologne 3-1 during their previous Europa League game with first team players Sead Kolasinac, Alexis Sanchez and Hector Bellerin all finding the back of the net. Therefore, Nicholas’ assumption that Arsene Wenger will put out a strong team again seems logical.

hector bellerin v koln
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 14: Hector Bellerin of Arsenal celebrates after the final whistle of the UEFA Europa League group H match between Arsenal FC and 1. FC Koeln at Emirates Stadium on September 14, 2017 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud, as well as Jack Wilshere, are expected to get a run out and while Borisov won the Belarusian Premier League last year, the Gunners should still have too much quality for them to overcome.

Arsenal and Borisov have never played each other before but the Belarusian team faced Everton in the Europa League in 2009. The Toffees beat them 2-1 away but lost 1-0 at Goodison Park.

If I was going to make a prediction, I’d guess something similar to Nicholas. I don’t think we’ll keep a clean sheet by any means since it’s been a minor miracle during the past two matches but I do reckon we’ll leave with all three points.

Although it’s Arsenal so who knows?