Arsenal and Molde meet in the Europa League on Thursday evening with both clubs looking to extend their winning streak in Group B to three matches.
Already holding a six-point advantage over Rapid Vienna and Molde, the English and Norwegian sides are aware that they will move to the brink of the knockout stages with victory at the Emirates Stadium.
Match preview
© Reuters
Most Arsenal supporters will agree that they have not enjoyed the fastest start to the season, already losing out to Liverpool, Manchester City and Leicester City in the Premier League.
However, despite suffering defeat to three of their rivals, the Gunners only remain four points adrift of first place courtesy of a deserved 1-0 triumph away at Manchester United on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta watched his players squander several chances to take the lead at Old Trafford, eventually having to rely on a much-needed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang goal from the penalty spot.
Nevertheless, the level of their overall performance would have impressed the Spaniard and the club's fans ahead of back-to-back home fixtures with Molde and Aston Villa.
Should Arsenal prevail in each contest, Arteta will be satisfied with the club's progress heading into the November international break, a feeling which he would not have expected when succumbing to Leicester on October 25.
Like their hosts, Molde would have had few complaints when learning the draw for the group stages, aware that it provided them with a realistic chance of reaching the last 32 of this competition for just the second time in their history.
As it stands, Erling Moe's side are taking full advantage of being presented with a favourable group, something which was welcomed after they missed out on Champions League football to Ferencvaros on away goals.
Molde initially required time to shake off conceding three times at home, but they have recently recorded six successive wins in all competitions.
Ohi Omoijuanfo has been the star of the show in recent weeks, scoring the decisive goals in the narrow successes over Dundalk and Rapid Vienna.
Arsenal Europa League form: WW
Arsenal form (all competitions): WLWLWW
Molde Europa League form: WW
Molde form (all competitions): WWWWWW
Team News
© Reuters
Arteta is expected to name a much stronger lineup to the side which started last week's fixture against Dundalk.
Bernd Leno, Gabriel Magalhaes and Dani Ceballos are all expected to come into the team, while Granit Xhaka should be restored to the centre of midfield.
Shkodran Mustafi is in line to make another appearance in defence, with Reiss Nelson potentially getting a rare chance on the flank.
While David Luiz is back in contention after a thigh injury, the Brazilian may not be risked from the start.
Moe is expected to make a couple of changes to the team which faced Mjondalen at the weekend.
Martin Ellingsten will almost certainly be restored to the first XI after coming off the substitutes' bench to net a double in the 3-1 win.
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Leno; Mustafi, Gabriel, Kolasinac; Soares, Xhaka, Ceballos, Maitland-Niles; Pepe, Nketiah, Nelson
Molde possible starting lineup:
Linde; Wingo, Bjornbak, Gregersen, Haugen; Aursnes, Eikrem, Ellingsen; Hestad, Omoijuanfo, Brynhildsen
We say: Arsenal 3-1 Molde
Having shown that they are capable of delivering strong second-half performances, Molde will fancy their chances of gaining a result against opposition who will likely include a number of fringe players. However, we cannot back against a Gunners squad who will want to take their chance to impress Arteta.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting a home win in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Home Win:data
Darren Plant
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Arsenal win with a probability of 57.18%. A draw had a probability of 22.6% and a win for Molde had a probability of 20.26%.
The most likely scoreline for an Arsenal win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.59%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.9%) and 2-0 (9.82%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.68%), while for a Molde win it was 0-1 (5.76%). The actual scoreline of 4-1 was predicted with a 2.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Arsenal would win this match.
