Arsenal Held In Portugal By Vitoria Guimaraes

Last season’s UEFA Europa League losing finalist, Arsenal on Wednesday night in Portugal were halted in their 100% run in the group stage of the competition.

The Gunners had beaten all comers in the group stage up till now in a group that has Frankfurt, Standard Liege, and Vitoria Guimaraes.

The Europa League match from Thursday night to Wednesday night at the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques in Portugal to avoid a clash due to TV broadcast and congestion with Vitoria’s fellow Portuguese side, SC Braga who will play against Besiktas

Unai Emery’s side will have thought they had won the tie through Shkodran Mustafi header as assisted by Summer signing from Lille, Nicolas Pepe, in the 8th minute. However, the Gunners failed to hold on tight to the lead as Bruno Duarte secured a valuable point for Vitoria Guimaraes in the 91st minute with an exquisite finish.

Arsenal’s failure to hold on means they have now gone four games without a win, albeit all four have ended in stalemate much to the dismay of the gunners faithfuls.

At the weekend, the North Londoners failed to hold on to a 1-0 while Liverpool knocked them out on penalties after coming from behind to draw an incredible game which ended 5-5 in the league cup which was few days after Crystal Palace got a draw despite trailing 2-0 against the Gunners for a big part of the game .

It hasn’t been a pleasant period for the Spanish Coach at the helm of affairs at the Emirates stadium as the fourth consecutive draw for the North London side is coming after Swiss midfielder, Granit Xhaka was removed as captain of the team following his burst up against fans in the 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace in the English Premier League.

The responsibility fell on defender Rob Holding for the game in Portugal after the new captain, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, was not included in the matchday squad.

Meanwhile, despite the draw, Arsenal will still progress to the next round of the competition should Belgian side Standard Liege fail to get a result against Frankfurt as the Gunners sith atop Group F.

Arsenal will now turn their attention to their weekend fixture against a red hot Leicester City.

Arsenal are backed at 3.51 to defeat Leicester City, Leicester are available at 2.06 to win the game.
 
 
Written by: Idowu Daniel Ademiju