The penultimate round of Europa League group stage matches are coming our way on Thursday and the action kicks off with a 5:45pm BST kick-off in Group A between Dutch Eredivisie side PSV and Premier League leaders Arsenal from the PSV Stadion. It might only feel like last week that these two clubs met and that’s because it was.
Their re-arranged fixture saw the English side prevail as 1-0 winners to book their place in the knockout phase. Will their Dutch opponents get the result required to join them? Read our preview here to find out all the Europa League odds we feel you should back in this game.
PSV Betting Trends
PSV will have mixed emotions about their start to the season so far. Head coach Ruud Van Nistelrooy has led his team to 8 wins from their opening 11 league matches but they remain in 2nd place and 4 points behind league leaders Ajax. The Red and Whites were also knocked out of the Champions League by Rangers in the play-off round but have managed to pick up 7 points from their 4 group games thus far meaning they need a win here to potentially put themselves in the draw for the next round.
Of course, there are caveats. PSV must better Bodo/Glimt’s result this round to qualify immediately. Otherwise it goes to the last group game between those two for a place in the knockouts. Van Nistelrooy’s men have at least secured a spot in the Europa Conference League play-offs whatever happens so their European journey will go on. It just depends in what competition. The team have shown they can score goals in this group having scored 5 goals in two separate games already although both times it was FC Zurich who were the opposition. PSV have only lost 1 of their 9 home matches across all competitions this season.
Arsenal Betting Trends
Arsenal secured their place in the next round of this competition with their victory over PSV at home last week but it was a tense affair. This game will be even tougher for the Londoners but a draw will ensure that the Gunners are straight through to the Europa League last 16 with a group game to spare. Mikel Arteta’s men have picked up 4 wins from their 4 group games so far with the team keeping three clean sheets in a row. This defensive resilience has been key for the team all season. It’s now just 12 goals conceded from 15 matches in all competitions.
Away form has been particularly impressive for Arsenal this season with the club picking up 6 wins from their 8 away matches whilst conceding just 0.63 goals per game during that run. Not only have the team been keeping the goals out but they’ve also been scoring an average of 2.3 goals per game on their travels in this competition under the management of Arteta. Less than 2.5 goals have also been scored in each of the last 4 games that Arsenal have played in all competitions so tightly-contested matches are becoming the norm. Gone are the days of the loose and easy Arsenal teams of recent years.
PSV vs Arsenal Betting Tips
It was a Granit Xhaka winner that separated these two teams just one week ago and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a single goal from an unconventional source that is needed to deliver a winner again. PSV showed they were a match for Arsenal across the pitch but ultimately it was one moment that decided it. Arsenal have only ever lost to PSV on one occasion but that did come in their last meeting in the Netherlands.
The fact that the last 6 meetings have all seen fewer than 2.5 goals scored exemplifies how evenly-matched these two teams are. Arsenal are coming to grind out a point and PSV ideally need the win. I’m going to back Arsenal to get the draw but it’s going to be tough.
Draw @ 3.60 with Sporting Index
Total Goals Scored Under 2.5 @ 2.10 with BetVictor
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