The UEFA Europa League Round of 16 first legs commence on Thursday as teams from 11 different nations are looking to reach the final eight.
The English Premier League has the most representatives left heading into this stage, with Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal all safely progressing last month.
Italy, Spain and Ukraine are the only other countries that have more than one side left in this season’s tournament, each with two sides remaining. Here’s a look at how the four teams from the United Kingdom may fair at this stage.
Manchester United
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side head into this round as the bookmakers’ favourites, with Netbet currently quoting a price of 16/5 to lift the trophy in May. This despite drawing AC Milan at this stage, with the first leg taking place at Old Trafford.
The Milan giants are currently second in Serie A, six points behind city rivals Internazionale, and putting in a title challenge for the first time in nearly a decade. It will be interesting to see what side Stefano Pioli fields for both legs.
Indeed, AC Milan are expected to rest key players, including ex-United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Whereas Solskjaer doesn’t rotate his side too often, which should give the Premier League side the advantage in this one. We think Manchester United will progress from this tie.
Rangers FC
Already confirmed as 2020-21 Scottish Premier League champions for the first time in a decade, Steven Gerrard’s Rangers FC side can now fully focus on the European competition.
Opponents in the Round of 16 are Slavia Prague, who shocked Leicester City with a 2-0 aggregate victory last month.
Rangers have looked mightily impressive up to this point, finishing above Benfica in their group and eliminating Antwerp in the first knockout round. Got to lean with the side from Glasgow in this matchup.
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur are currently putting a good winning run together in the Premier League as they look to get back in next season’s Champions League. They have also been handed a favourable tie in the Europa League too as they come up against Dinamo Zagreb.
Expect Jose Mourinho to ring the changes on Thursday ahead of the weekend’s North London Derby, but it would be a shock if they don’t progress from this one over two legs. They have been made heavy odds-on favourites to safely do that.
Arsenal
Arsenal return to the scene where they were eliminated last season as they take on Olympiacos on Thursday. In fact, the English side were 1-0 winners in the first leg in Greece just over 12 months ago, before losing 1-2 at home after extra-time back in London.
Mikel Arteta’s side actually played their Round of 32 tie second leg at Olympiacos’ stadium as they narrowly saw off Benfica.
Facing rivals Tottenham three days after their trip to the Greek capital, expect the Spanish boss to ring the changes for this one. Any first leg defeat will make it tough for Arsenal to progress and we’re siding with the Greek giants to reach the quarter-finals as a result.
