‘They are the dangerous players’ – Olayinka wary of Aubameyang and Lacazette threats at Arsenal

Peter Olayinka has acknowledged the threat Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette will pose Slavia Prague in the Europa League, although he is upbeat that his team can get a result against Arsenal.

The meeting between the Premier League giants and the Czech First League outfit takes place at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday night, with the winners over the two legs booking a place in the competition’s last four.

To reach this stage, Slavia Prague silenced Scottish Premiership side Rangers 3-1 on aggregate in the Round of 16, defeating the Scottish side 2-0 away from home after the first leg staged at the Sinobo Stadium finished 1-1.

The Nigeria international, 25, cited the danger the Gabon and France internationals represent in Mikel Arteta’s side, albeit, he is counting on the club’s away form to pick up a favourable result in North London.

“I think we have been doing well in away games, and [on Thursday] we can do the same. I believe we can do the same," Olayinka told the club media. 

“They play collective, so everyone is important in the team. But I think Aubameyang and Lacazette are players which we need to watch out for. They are the most important and dangerous players.

“I am focused on [Thursday's] game and I can say that I am excited to be in this great stadium, so we’ll see what happens.”

Jindrich Trpisovsky’s Slavia Prague face Arsenal full of confidence having gone on a run of four games without defeat in the Europa League and a run of 21 outings without any loss across all competitions.

Their last defeat in any competition came against Bayer Leverkusen - losing 4-0 in their last Group C fixture in the Europa League at the BayArena, Leverkusen with Leon Bailey leading the rout with a brace.

For Olayinka, he would be hoping to get his fourth goal of the competition having found the back of the net against Bayer Leverkusen, Nice and Rangers.

On the home front, he boasts six goals from 20 league outings in the 2020-21 campaign as his team sits at the summit of the log with 65 points from 25 outings.