Arsenal welcome BATE Borisov to the Emirates Stadium on Thursday looking to recover from an embarrassing first-leg defeat last week.
The club from Belarus are just 90 minutes from a spot in the last-16 after Stanislav Dragun struck midway through the game, before the Gunners suffered another blow in seeing Alexandre Lacazette sent off.
Unai Emery's men will be desperate to recover from the humiliation as they look to stop their season from falling apart.
| Game | Arsenal vs BATE |
| Date | Thursday, February 21 |
| Time | 5:55pm GMT/12:55pm ET |
TV Channel, Live Stream & How To Watch
In the United States (US), the game can be watched live and on-demand with fuboTV (7-day free trial).
New users can sign up for a free seven-day trial of the live sports streaming service, which can be accessed via iOS, Android, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Apple TV as well as on a web browser.
Next Match
| US TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| N/A | fubo TV (7-day free trial) |
In the United Kingdom (UK), the game will be broadcast on BT Sport 3 and streamed on the BT Sport Live app.
| UK TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| BT Sport 3 | BT Sport Live |
Squads & Team News
| Position | Arsenal players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Cech, Leno |
| Defenders | Koscielny, Lichtsteiner, Kolasinac, Mustafi, Monreal |
| Midfielders | Elneny, Torreira, Maitland-Niles, Guendouzi, Xhaka |
| Forwards | Iwobi, Lacazette, Aubameyang, Nketiah, Suarez, Mkhitaryan |
Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding and Danny Welbeck are missing through injury. Ainsley Maitland-Niles came down with illness during the week, making him a doubt for this game. Meanwhile striker Alexandre Lacazette is suspended after he was sent off in the first leg.
Mesut Ozil returns to the team after being left out of last week's encounter.
Confirmed Arsenal starting XI: Cech, Lichtsteiner, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Guendouzi, Xhaka; Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Aubameyang, Iwobi.
| Position | BATE players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Scherbitskiy, Chichkan |
| Defenders | Filipenko, Volkov, Filipovic, Malkevich, Yablonski, Simovic |
| Midfielders | Drahun, Baha, Berezkin, Rios, Stasevich, Bessmertniy, Hleb |
| Forwards | Skavysh, Milic, Moukam, Mukhamedov, Dubajic, Tuominen |
With no competitive domestic football between December and April, this tie represents BATE’s first competitive matches of 2019.
The Belorussians are not missing any key players heading into this tie, with Alexander Hleb available to line up against his former team again.
Confirmed BATE starting XI: Scherbitskiy; Rios, Volkov, Filipenko, Filipovic; Baga, Dragun, Simovic; Skavysh, Milic, Stasevich.
Betting & Match Odds
Arsenal are the odds-on favourites to pick up a vital win at 1/8 with bet365 . BATE are priced at 25/1, while a draw is available at 9/1.
Match Preview
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Arsenal have been struggling with inconsistency since early-January, losing every second game they play.
West Ham, Manchester United, Manchester City and BATE have recently come out on top against the north London club in recent weeks, as they crashed out of the FA Cup and suffered a blow in their pursuit of a top-four finish in the Premier League.
Unai Emery's team must bounce back to prevent their season from falling apart at the seams and the coach is confident they can get on top in this tie.
"It was a bad result last week, but the team worked with our planning and we had chances to score and every chance we need to improve tomorrow," he told reporters. "We need to continue with our gameplay despite the bad result. [On Thursday] we must manage 90 minutes with the result to get a good result for us, but knowing that this is 1-0 we need to be very consistent.
"We also need to get into their box, find the best positions to score and be efficient. We need a big result to manage this game better, but I think we have experience and every player knows tomorrow we are playing against an organised team. They have big motivation after that result, and we must do the best performance and I ask our supporters because I think they can help us achieve a good performance to come back into the game.
"My confidence is if we play like we can and play together for 90 minutes, like we are doing at home, I have the confidence and trust in our players."
The English side put some blame on BATE Borisov's field last week and centre-back Laurent Koscielny expects a more comfortable game at the Emirates Stadium.
"The first game was difficult because we went to BATE with ambition and wanted to win," Koscielny said. "During the game, you never know what can happen. The pitch was difficult as well. Now the reality is we are 1-0 down and we know the game we want to play tomorrow, we have the quality to qualify and go to the next round. Each player is focused and it is a very important game because it is a chance to get to a final and get into the Champions League. Everyone is together and that’s the most important thing for [Thursday]."
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