With Champions League action out of the way, our attention turns toward the UEFA Europa League on Thursday. 48 teams will kick-off the group stage across Europe as all roads lead to the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in France where the final will be played on the 16th May 2018.
UEFA Europa League selected fixtures
(Thursday, September 14th):
Atalanta vs Everton
Austria Wien vs AC Milan
Hoffenheim vs Braga
Kobenhavn vs Lokomotiv Moscow
Marseille vs Konyaspor
Vitesse vs Lazio
FC Koln vs Arsenal
Real Sociedad vs Rosenborg
Atalanta vs Everton
Ronald Koeman takes his injury-hit Everton side to Italy to take on Atalanta in their Europa League Group E opener at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia. The Toffees will be without at least six first team players as they look to recover from a 3-0 loss at home to Tottenham in the Premier League which was their second defeat in succession in the league and now leaves them without a win in four in all competitions. Atalanta registered their first victory of the season this past weekend in Serie A when they narrowly edged Sassuolo 2-1 thanks to goals from forwards Andreas Cornelius and Andrea Petagna who sealed all three points for La Dea. This will be the first competitive meeting between the two sides.
Austria Wien vs AC Milan
Seven-time European Champions and two-time winners of the Europa League AC Milan will take their new-look squad after a summer of spending to Vienna to take on the runners-up in the Austrian Bundesliga, Austria Wien, at the Franz Horr Stadium. Vincenzo Montella had a positive start to life in Seria A this season with two wins from their opening two games coupled with a pair of convincing victories in the qualifying rounds. They were humbled on their return from the international break however losing 4-1 at Lazio. Austria Wien have won three of their last five league games scoring twelve goals in the process. Experienced German defender Heiko Westermann is part of the Austria backline that will be tasked with keeping out a talented Milan attack that contains the likes of Andre Silva (Portugal) and Hakan Calhanoglu (Turkey).
Marseille vs Konyaspor
Marseille and Konyaspor have both endured difficult starts to life this season and sit 10th and 14th respectively at this early stage. Las Phoceens head into this game at the Konya Buyuksehir Stadium off the back of two damaging defeats either side of the international break. After being humiliated 6-1 at Monaco they returned home two weeks later where they were turned over 3-1 by lowly Rennes. Konyaspor haven’t fared much better having won only one of their opening four league games, scoring just five goals. They will have new signing South African striker Lebogang Manyama available to make his debut after joining the club from Cape Town City.
Vitesse vs Lazio
In one of the ties of the first round of matches, Vitesse Arnham welcome Italian giants Lazio to GeIreDome in the Netherlands in Group K action that will see Nice take on Zulte Waregem in the other game in the group. Both teams have had flying starts in their respective leagues. Vitesse have lost just once in their opening four games and sit second behind Feyenoord while Lazio have two wins a draw from their first three games and are just two points off the trio at the top. Like the rest of the games previewed, interestingly, this too will be the very first time that the two clubs will face each other as teams look to stamp down an early marker ahead of a long season of European football.
FC Koln vs Arsenal
Koln and Arsenal both finished fifth in the league last year to qualify for the Europa League. They will face each other in Group H action on Thursday evening at the RheinEnergieStadion in Cologne, Germany. Koln sit bottom of the Bundesliga in 2017/18 and are yet to pick up a single point. They have scored just once in their three league games so far and will have it all to do if they are to take anything off of Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal. After back-to-back defeats to Stoke and Liverpool respectively, Arsenal turned in a much more convincing 3-0 win over Bournemouth to get their season back on track. Seven players that featured in that win on the weekend have been left out of the matchday squad to face Koln including goal-scorers Danny Welbeck and Alexandre Lacazette while Alexis Sanchez and Jack Wilshere have traveled and may play a part.