Arsenal look to consolidate top spot as they host Vitoria SC

After two wins out of two so far in this campaign, Unai Emery’s Arsenal look to secure their grip on top spot in Group F when Vitoria SC visit the Emirates.

Arsenal hope to make it a perfect three out of three wins in the Europa League this season and recover from Monday night’s defeat away to Sheffield United. Unai Emery will hope his young Arsenal team can once again put in an impressive performance that has seen them win 3-0 away in Frankfurt and 4-0 at home to Standard Liege.

Vitoria have failed to score or pick up a point so far in Group F after falling 2-0 to Standard Liege and 1-0 to Frankfurt. The Portuguese side have also lost on their only two previous trips to England, defeated 5-0 by Aston Villa in 1983 and 2-0 against Portsmouth in 2008.

Vitoria currently sit fourth in the Portuguese top flight while Arsenal are presently fifth in the Premier League.

Team news

Reiss Nelson will be absent as he recovers from a knee injury although Mesut Ozil, Alexandre Lacazette and Kieran Tierney are all expected to be fit to feature.

Vitoria will be without a host of first team options including midfield options Andre Andre, Alhassan Wakaso and winger Ola John.

Unai Emery spoke about what he expects from Thursday’s opponents ahead of the fixture:

“We respect them. They are fourth in the table [in Portugal]and are a very competitive team. They lost the first two games but the games were close.

“Tomorrow we’ll expect a difficult match. I think we are showing in Europa League a good performance and a good way in our idea to create and find our way for the future.”

Head-to-head

The two teams are meeting for the first time ever in UEFA competition.