Arsenal are in a surprisingly commanding position in their Europa League tie against AC Milan, so let’s take a look at who else could cause the team problems if they finish the job on Thursday.
Defying the two club’s respective runs of form, Arsenal put in a top performance in a 2-0 win at the San Siro on Thursday.
The tie isn’t over yet, with the return leg in London still to come, but it’s pretty much the best the team could’ve hoped to get from the away match against a top European club.
If Arsenal can get through the home leg without falling apart, they’ll be in the quarter-finals. At that point it wouldn’t be ridiculous to start dreaming about going all the way.
Here are the teams who are most likely to cause Wenger’s side problems in that endeavour:
2Borussia Dortmund
Once again, Dortmund started out in the Champions League with a difficult group. They lost every match against Spurs and Real Madrid, and are currently behind 2-1 in their tie with Salzburg.
That doesn’t sound particularly threatening, but on their day Dortmund can be very dangerous. They’ve scored in every single game in Europe this season, despite their poor Champions League results.
Michy Batshuayi moved to the German club on loan in January, and he’s already scored five goals and assisted one since the move. Andre Schurrle is in just as good form, with three goals and two assists in his last eight matches from the wing.
Dortmund are back up to third place in the Bundesliga and unbeaten in 10 league games. If they can make it to the quarter-finals, it’ll be a good sign of their resolve, and I wouldn’t underestimate them. They do need to find a way to transfer their domestic form to Europe if they’re going to do so though.
2017/18 European record
- Wins: 1
- Draws: 3
- Defeats: 5
- Goals scored: 12
- Goals conceded: 18