Europa League 25/2/2021
Europa League 25/2/2021. The second legs of the Europa League today with four British teams in action. At 17:55, on BT Sport 1, is Arsenal v Benfica. Also at 17:55, on BT Sport 3, is Rangers v Royal Antwerp. At 20:00, on BT Sport ESPN, is Leicester City v Slavia Prague. Also at 20:00, on BT Sport 2, is Manchester United v Real Sociedad.
Europa League 25/2/2021 – Detailed Channel Information
Europa League 25/2/2021 – Selected Team News
Arsenal v Benfica (1-1)
- Rob Holding has a head injury and won’t feature on Thursday, Arsenal have confirmed, but Thomas Partey could be available if he passes a late fitness test.
- Mat Ryan probably thought he would get his minutes in the Europa League when he joined in January only to see Bernd Leno picked for the first leg last week.
- Former Benfica defender David Luiz and fellow Brazilian Gabriel will push to start on Thursday after dropping to the bench against Manchester City at the weekend.
- Alexandre Lacazette hasn’t started Arsenal’s last three matches and will push for a recall here. Emile Smith Rowe and Dani Ceballos should also return after surprisingly dropping to the bench against City.
- For only the second time this season Benfica used a back three in the first leg.
- Adel Taarabt, Nicolas Otamendi and Jan Vertonghen are all denied returns to England as this leg is taking place in Athens, Greece.
Rangers v Royal Antwerp (4-3)
- Forced off in the first half of Rangers’ 4-1 win over Dundee at the weekend, Ryan Jack is unlikely to be available for the return leg of their round of 32 Europa League match with Royal Antwerp.
- James Tavernier came off injured in the first leg and then missed out at the weekend. It would seem unlikely he features here. Leon Balogun is on standby to deputise once again at right-back, though a yellow card here would rule him out of the next one if Rangers progress.
- Kemar Roofe and Nikola Katic are other injury concerns for the Scottish giants, neither likely to recover in time to feature here.
- Royal Antwerp have lost Abdoulaye Seck after his red card last week. Four other players are one yellow card away from a one-match ban in the competition.
- Jeremy Gelin should step in for the suspended Seck at centre-back on Thursday, with Romelu Lukaku’s brother, Jordan, playing left wing-back.
- Dieumerci Mbokani, their top scorer domestically, is back from injury in a boost for the Belgian outfit. Felipe Avenatti recovered from injury to start the first leg.
- Royal Antwerp are already without first-choice goalkeeper Jean Butez and at the weekend they saw back-up Alireza Safar Beiranvand go off injured against Rangers last week and again at the weekend. Ortwin De Wolf should deputise here.
- Faris Haroun was a regular starter in the group stage but is also set to miss out here.
Leicester v Slavia Prague (0-0)
- James Maddison has been ruled out of Thursday’s game with a hip injury sustained at the weekend.
- With Ayoze Perez also sidelined, Cengiz Under will hope to deputise, albeit in a central role.
- Luke Thomas has started back-to-back games for Leicester and should keep his place in the side here.
- Timothy Castagne returned from injury to face Villa but Daniel Amartey is expected to take over at right-back here.
- With Kelechi Iheanacho suspended, Rodgers may have to start Jamie Vardy here.
- Tomas Holes is unlikely to feature here after coming off injured against Leicester in the first leg and then missing out altogether at the weekend.
- Ibrahim Benjamin Traore, Ondrej Lingr and Jakub Hromada are options in midfield if Slavia Prague rotate on Thursday.
Manchester United v Real Sociedad (4-0)
- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed Donny van de Beek, Edison Cavani and Scott McTominay are still sidelined. It leaves his midfield depleted with Paul Pogba also missing.
- The Manchester United head coach will certainly rotate after the 4-0 win in the first leg, particularly with Chelsea away on Sunday, but is restricted in some areas.
- Solskjaer previously ruled out Amad Diallo or Shola Shoretire making full debuts on Thursday but with so many injuries it wouldn’t be a surprise if the former did at least.
- With Cavani potentially out of the Chelsea game, Solskjaer may not risk the likes of Marcus Rashford or Anthony Martial here, though the latter could do with a confidence boost.
- Dean Henderson, Alex Telles, Eric Bailly, Axel Tuanzebe, Brandon Williams and Juan Mata will almost certainly be considered for starts on Thursday. Tuanzebe could play right-back with Victor Lindelof and Bailly paired at centre-back together.
- Harry Maguire will miss their next European game with a booking here and should given a rare night off.
- Real Sociedad find themselves in a tricky situation after a 4-0 first leg defeat. Unlikely to overturn such a deficit, do they put their best players through a needless run out or do they back themselves and go for it? They did win 4-0 at the weekend, with Aleksander Isak scoring a hat-trick.
- David Silva and Adnan Januzaj will hope to start in Manchester for different reasons. The Spanish side could be missing four players through injury, while Portu will push to start.
A big thanks to our friends at https://t.me/FootballonTVideas who kindly allow us to use fixture information. A special shout to BOOMEDIA for the excellent pictures, much appreciated.
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