Arsenal vs AC Milan: Match Preview and Injury Update

Arsenal vs AC Milan: Match Preview and Injury Update

Arsenal have a big chance of securing a significant trophy this season despite their fluctuating form shown in the domestic competitions. While fans are used to seeing the Gunners fighting for the Champions League, the Europa League would be quite the achievement considering their last international trophy was won back in the ’93-’94 season. It would also secure the Londoners’ presence in next years’ Champions League which would be a massive relief – Arsenal are 8 points behind Chelsea and 12 behind Liverpool who are 5th and 4th respectively.

Even though it might not be obvious, Arsenal are surely seeing the Europa League as their main objective for the rest of the season. The good news is that they have all the chances of actually bringing the trophy home. Looking at last week’s result, it seems that Atletico Madrid are the only team who can actually deny the Gunners the trophy and a spot in the Champions League.


Milan do not seem strong enough to turn things around and recover the 2 away goal disadvantage so Wenger should be looking towards what needs to be done next and what teams Arsenal need to defeat in order to achieve their goal.

The only thing that might come between Arsenal and the next stage of the Europa League might be the injury list which seems to always contain important players during key moments like these:

Alexandre Lacazette – Knee Injury – Out since mid February. The Frenchman will not be available against Milan and might even miss the first leg of the quarter finals which is scheduled for the 5th of April.

Hector Bellerin – Knee Injury – out since the beginning of this month. He is expected to return on game day. His presence in the starting eleven is in doubt though.

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Shkodran Mustafi – Groin Injury – out since the weekend. He has no return date set and is likely to miss the Milan clash.

Nacho Monreal – Back Injury – out since late February. He is in the same situation as Bellerin. He might have a decent chance of being on the pitch on game night.

Santi Cazorla – Tendon Injury – out since 2016. His situation is something else. He underwent 10 surgeries and is looking still hoping to return in 2019 which would mean his recovery time will extend to over 750 days.

Milan on the other hand have no new injuries or massive doubts about their squad so we can expect a similar team to that which featured against Genoa this past Sunday.

Score wise we predict a 2-1 win for Arsenal and a 4-1 aggregate win as the Gunners are coming off a solid 3-0 win over Watford and should have enough experience and a strong enough starting eleven to secure the win.