Arsenal vs. Vorskla: Odds, Preview, Live Stream, TV Info for Europa Match

Arsenal begin their 2018-19 UEFA Europa League campaign on Thursday, when they welcome Ukrainian side Vorskla to the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners are heavy favourites for victory against Vorskla, who secured their place in the competition by finishing in third place in the Ukrainian Premier League last season.

The club are in the Europa League for only the second time in their history. On their previous appearance in 2011-12, they finished bottom of a group containing Standard Liege, Hannover 96 and FC Copenhagen with two points from six matches.

Date: Thursday, September 20

Time: 8 p.m. (BST), 3 p.m. (ET)

Odds: Arsenal win: 1-8, Vorskla win: 18-1, Draw: 7-1

Live Stream: BT Sport App (UK), B/R Live (U.S.)

TV: BT Sport 2 (UK)

Odds via Oddschecker

Unai Emery takes charge of Arsenal for the first time in the Europa League on Thursday. The Spaniard has a good record in the competition after winning it three times as manager of Sevilla.

Martin Rose/Getty Images

The Gunners will be hoping to improve on last season's showing when they reached the semi-finals before being knocked out by eventual winners Atletico Madrid.

After beginning the season with defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea, the north London side have put together a winning run. They have beaten West Ham United, Cardiff City and Newcastle United and have momentum going into the game.

Emery has stressed the importance of the Europa League ahead of his side's opening Group E fixture, per Jon West at The Independent: "The Europa League can help a lot. After the Champions League, the Europa League is the most important competition. If teams cannot play in the Champions League, it is very important."

Arsenal will be expected to win the game, and Emery has said he will make changes to his team for the match, according to Mark Jones at the Mirror:

"We are going to change and use a lot of players for different competitions, but only thinking about the best performance for us to win on Thursday. Every competition for me is about [doing as well as you can] and normally you use a different goalkeeper in those [other] competitions, but it's about giving [your best] performance."

ESPN FC's Mattias Karen expects Arsenal's fringe players to feature against Vorskla:

Summer signing Bernd Leno could make his first start for the Gunners in place of Petr Cech. The Czech goalkeeper has been criticised already this season after struggling to play out from the back. A good performance from the Germany international could see him stake a claim for a regular starting spot.

Vorskla come into the game on the back of three wins in a row. The Ukrainian team have never played English opposition before, but if they were to take anything from this match, it would be seen as a big upset.