Arsenal vs. Olympiakos: Team News, Predicted Lineups, Live Stream and TV Info
Arsenal and Olympiakos know each other rather well by this stage. The two sides have been drawn together in three out of the last six seasons.
Familiarity can breed contempt, and there will be no love lost between these teams at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night. Having both lost their first group-stage match, they’ll be desperate to obtain a positive result to improve their chances of escaping from Group F.
The portents favour Arsenal: the last six Champions League encounters between these two teams have ended in a home win. Indeed, Olympiakos have conspired to lose all 12 of their matches on English soil, scoring just three times in the process.
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Date: Tuesday, September 29
Time: 7:45 p.m. BST/2:45 p.m. ET
Location: Emirates Stadium, London
Television coverage: BT Sport 2 / BT Sport 2 HD (U.K. only), FOX Sports 2 (U.S. only)
Streaming: BT Sport app (U.K. only), FOXSoccer2Go (U.S. only)
Form
Arsenal
W (2-0) vs. Stoke
L (1-2) vs. Dinamo Zagreb
L (2-0) vs. Chelsea
W (1-2) vs. Tottenham
W (2-5) vs. Leicester City
Olympiakos
W (0-2) vs. Levadiakos
W (3-1) vs. Panionios
L (0-3) vs. Bayern Munich
W (1-3) vs. Xanthi
W (5-1) vs. PAS Giannina
Unsurprisingly, Olympiakos have enjoyed a very comfortable start to the domestic season—at least in terms of results. However, they were beaten by Bayern Munich in their opening Champions League game. Having lost their first home match, this trip to the Emirates Stadium takes on greater significance: even a point would be hugely valuable in their quest to qualify for the knockout phase.
Arsenal also lost their first game of the group stage in Zagreb. That makes obtaining three points against Olympiakos absolutely essential. After a convincing win against Leicester in their last Premier League outing, Wenger will hope his team can carry that momentum into their European campaign.
The Managers
After a successful performance on the road at Leicester, Arsene Wenger wants Arsenal's home form to ignite. Talking to Arsenal.com, he spoke about the problems the Gunners have encountered on home soil:
"It is not much different. What changes more is the attitude of our opponent. We always try to play and go forward. At home we face maybe a different kind of problem, teams regroup in front of their box and you need to be penetrative with your passing, with your movement, and clinical with your finishing.
"
However, Arsenal will not encounter a team willing to roll over and gift them a result. Per Eurosport, new Olympiakos boss Marco Silva insisted his team will be no pushover at the Emirates Stadium:
"We are prepared to get the best result we can. We know it will be a difficult game, how big a team Arsenal are and respect them, but we believe in our own strengths and are ready for a strong game.
We are going to come here and show our best self, to show what we can do.
"
If Olympiakos were to win at the Emirates Stadium, it'd surely go down as one of the best results in their Champions League history.
Team News
Arsenal
After a two-match absence, Arsenal are able to welcome back defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin for this Champions League clash. That’s a tremendous boost: Coquelin has become integral to Wenger’s plans and a key component of the Gunners XI. He will take the place of fellow Frenchman Mathieu Flamini, who picked up a thigh problem of his own against Leicester at the weekend. Mikel Arteta also misses out with a minor muscular issue.
With a match against Manchester United looming at the weekend, Wenger will be torn between a desire to rotate and the need to secure a positive result. Olivier Giroud’s suspension means Theo Walcott is certain to continue at centre-forward, but it may be that Kieran Gibbs gets a rare opportunity for an outing at full-back—Nacho Monreal has been in superb form but could probably do with a rest before facing United’s fleet-footed forwards.
Wenger is still without long-term absentees Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck, who are both in danger of missing the remainder of the group stage.
Predicted Arsenal XI (4-2-3-1): Petr Cech; Hector Bellerin, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Kieran Gibbs; Francis Coquelin, Santi Cazorla; Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez; Theo Walcott
Olympiakos
Boss Silva will be without talented Serbian midfielder Luka Milivojevic, who is due to serve the second of the two-game ban he received for being dismissed in Olympiakos's Europa League round-of-32 tie against Dnipro last season. However, well-travelled Argentine playmaker Alejandro Dominguez could be fit to return after picking up a thigh strain in the previous round of fixtures against Bayern Munich.
There are likely to be several names familiar to fans of English football in the Olympiakos team. Esteban Cambiasso left Leicester this summer after one successful season in the Premier League, while winger Pajtim Kasami had a three-year spell in London with Fulham.
Upfront, Brown Ideye is a recent arrival from West Brom, where he scored just four times in 24 league appearances.
Predicted Olympiakos XI (4-1-2-1-2): Roberto Jimenez; Omar Elabdellaoui, Manuel da Costa, Dimitris Siovas, Arthur Masuaku; Esteban Cambiasso; Leandro Salino, Pajtim Kasami; Alejandro Dominguez; Felipe Pardo, Brown Ideye
Players to Watch
Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez
Having burst into life with a hat-trick against Leicester in Arsenal’s last game, Alexis Sanchez will be raring to add to his tally against Olympiakos.
His problem had not been coming by chances to score—in the opening weeks of the season, Alexis had countless opportunities to break his duck. However, he was repeatedly let down by his finishing.
That barren run came to an end in spectacular fashion at the King Power Stadium. The Greek defence will have to be at its very best to stop the Chilean now he’s up and running.
Olympiakos: Esteban Cambiasso
Cambiasso was superb form Leicester City last season, operating intelligently and efficiently in the area between the back four and the defence. That’s exactly what he’ll be charged with doing against Arsenal.
It’s essential Cambiasso shuts down the space in which the likes of Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey typically flourish. If those prodigiously-gifted playmakers are afforded too much time on the ball, Olympiakos’ dreadful run on English shores will surely continue.
James McNicholas is Bleacher Report's lead Arsenal correspondent and is following the club from a London base throughout 2015/16. Follow him on Twitter here.
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