22nd Feb 2018 | Europa League
Swedes Can Enjoy Evening At Wembley-Bound Arsenal
This is a dead rubber in some ways because Arsenal are going through but it's still a huge game for Ostersunds. The Gunners showed they could slip up in such situations earlier in the Europa campaign.
We got it wrong last week in this tie largely because Arsenal fielded one of their stronger line-ups in this competition but we might just win our money back with interest in London.
Arsenal have the Carabao Cup final in just 3 days at Wembley against Man City and you can be sure that will be their full focus with this one already in the bag. The Gunners lead 3-0 so they will be going through the motions with the second-string plus Mkhitaryan who is ineligible for Sunday.
For Ostersunds this is anything but a meaningless encounter. They have an English manager and a couple of English players, but for the whole squad this trip still represents a career highlight.
And they are no mugs, as demonstrated by their progression to the knockout phase. Even in the first leg they had only 1 shot fewer on target than their visitors.
If the Swedish side can handle the nerves then they can take advantage of a distracted Arsenal and perhaps even claim a credible result. I don’t see them winning but a draw and under 2.5 goals in the match looks worth a punt at best odds of 13/2 with Coral.
Odds correct at time of publishing: 06:56 22nd Feb, 2018 but subject to change