Rapid Wien – Arsenal

Rapid Wien hosts Arsenal at the Allianz Stadion in a match from Group B of Europa League. Let us preview this fixture in you in the next few paragraphs. Shall we begin?

Rapid Wien return to Europa League after one year of absence. In 2019 they reached the knockout phase of the competition, but they suffered a defeat from the hands of Inter Milan.

Dietmar Kuhbauer is still the manager of Rapid Wien. The 49-years old tactician is coaching the team from the summer of 2018. In 2020 he managed to finish second in the Austrian Bundesliga, which made Rapid the best team after the dominant force Salzburg.

Arsenal are the Europa League finalists from 2019. The Gunners are work in progress under the Spanish manager Mikel Arteta who is slowly improving the team since his arrival at the Emirates. Surely Arteta needs more time to do his magic, but since his arrival the club won two trophies. So far the fans are happy with him and they trust him. Arteta is a former captain of Arsenal as well.

In the weekend Arsenal suffered their second defeat in the Premier League for the 2020/21 season. The Gunners faced Manchester City at the Etihad, but didn’t score and conceded a 0-1 defeat.

Arteta should be making some changes for the next game. Against Manchester City he started Lacazette, Nketiah, Partey and Elneny from the bench. It’s very possible to see these four lads in the line-up against Rapid Wien. This is a good opportunity for some rotations.

That’s our preview for the Europa League clash between Rapid Wien and Arsenal in the Austrian capital. The Gunners are the obvious favourite here – they are the bigger club and they come from a better league. But let’s see how they will perform in their first European game for the season.