On Wednesday, Arsene Wenger discussed how strong the Europa League is this year compared to previous seasons, and named the teams to watch out for.
Currently at the last-16 stage, Arsenal hope to progress to the quarter-finals with the second leg of their tie against AC Milan kicking off on Thursday night. Other than those two sides facing each other, Wenger named the four teams he thinks put the competition “at a higher level than ever”.
Here are those sides that Arsenal may need to watch out for if they make Friday’s draw:
3Borussia 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