Day: October 3, 2018

Rangers would be hosting Rapid Vienna in what should be one of the most exciting clashes in the Europa League this week.

Steven Gerard has made a good start to his managerial career after surprisingly accepting to become the Bhoys’ manager in the summer. He has been a huge success in no other place than in Europe and he would be hoping to earn the first win of the group stages with his side in this game.

Rangers have not lost any of their games in the Europa League this season, a run which stretches to 9 matches.

They earned an impressive 2-2 draw at Villarreal on Matchday 1 and they would be looking to get a home win here.

Rapid Vienna haven’t played as many games as Rangers in this competition this season. This would be their 6th game in the competition.

They lost both of their away qualifying matches 2-1 each but earned a 2-0 win over Spartak Moscow in their last game in this competition.

Their Austrian Bundesliga campaign hasn’t got off to the best of starts as they sit way down in 8th place with just 9 points from their opening 9 games.

This will be the first meeting between the sides.

Celtic face a tough trip to Salzburg as they play last season’s semifinalists RB Salzburg, and Brendan Rodgers would wish this game had been played at a later date.

Since they initially qualified for a European competition in the 2009/2010 season, Salzburg have been regulars at European competitions, making it to the group stages on 8 occasions since that inaugural season.

They reached the semifinals last season only to be beaten by Olympique Marseille.

This season they missed out on qualifying for the Champions League only on goal difference, and that goes to show you how good this Austrians are.

As a matter of fact, Salzburg are unbeaten in their last 16 competitive games and 14 of those matches have ended in wins for them.

So the task facing Celtic in this game is a huge one.

There seems to be a minor crisis of confidence at Celtic Park at the moment after they dominated the Scottish game over the past two seasons.

They may have beaten Rosenborg by a lone goal at home in their first Europa League group games, but they are currently struggling for goals and wins, and they currently lie on the 5th position on the Scottish Premier League table.

Their main problem this season is how poor they are when they play away from home. They have played 8th away games in all competitions this season, and they have won just two of those matches.

In that period of time, they have been beaten by Hearts, AEK, and Kilmarnock. They have also failed to win any of their last 12 away games in the Europa League, a run which stretches back to 2011.

These two sides meet in the 2014/15 Europa League group stage, with Red Bull Salzburg winning one and drawing one, scoring five goals and conceding three in the process.

This game would see Arsenal look to continue their impressive start to the season against a Qarabag side that has been building a reputation as regulars in European group stage competitions.

Arsenal are heavy favourites for this game, but Qarabag have been impressing especially at home since the 2014/2015 season and they would be looking to show Unai Emery’s men that they are no pushovers.

Qarabag held Atletico Madrid to a draw both home and away in the Champions League group stages last season, and in recent past, they have taken points from Monaco, Inter Milan, Anderlecht, and PAOK. They also come into this game in good form having won 5 of their last 6 games in all competition,  so they would certainly be up for a fight in this game.

Arsenal come into this game on the back of a seven-game winning streak as they seem to finally be taking Unai Emery’s lessons on how to play to heart.

However, it is worth noting that their last four games have all been played at home and they have won away games only at struggling Newcastle and Cardiff City this season.

Gunners did not win three of their seven away trips last season, and Qarabag have lost just three times at home in the Europa League since the 2014/2015 season, so the home side would feel they have a good chance of getting something from this game.