Follow all the action live as Arsenal‘s youngsters take on Standard Liege in the Europa League.
Freddie Ljungberg’s side only need to avoid defeat to guarantee their qualification for the knockout stages and come into the fixture riding a wave of momentum after the interim head coach secured the first win of his tenure against West Ham last weekend.
Konstantinos Mavropanos, Joe Willock, Bukayo Saka, Reiss Nelson and Emile Smith Rowe all start for the Gunners, who defeated the Belgian side 4-0 in the reverse fixture in October. Follow all the action below:
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Arsenal
45 mins: Arsenal should have one. The ball is switched out to the left hand side where Saka collects it and shoots. Bodart makes the save but parries the ball back to Saka. He flicks it into Nelson who heads it at goal but Bodart gets across to save that shot as well.
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Arsenal
42 mins: Mpoku wants a free kick on the right side but doesn’t get one. Smith-Rowe sends the ball forward expecting Maitland-Niles to have made an overlapping run but he hasn’t and Arsenal give the ball away.
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Arsenal
39 mins: In the other game in Group F Frankfurt have a taken a 2-1 lead. That means Arsenal will finish second in the group if things remain as they are.
Lacazette picks up the ball on the left hand side. He holds up the ball before cutting inside and having a shot blocked.
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Arsenal
36 mins: Maitland-Niles sends the ball down the right wing for Smith-Rowe to run onto. He squares the ball into the box and Liege fail to clear it. Lacazette almost wins it back but is tackled and the home side are able to clear it away.
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Arsenal
33 mins: Emond gets on the end of a swirling cross into the box but his weight is on the wrong side and he heads the ball away from goal instead of towards it. Standard Liege have looked good.
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Arsenal
30 mins: Martinez takes a free kick for Arsenal and sends it well forward for the Gunners. A cross field pass comes out to the left where Nelson passes the ball up to Saka. He crosses the ball but no-one gets to the cross.
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Arsenal
27 mins: Once again Arsenal can’t find a pass forward to their front men and are caught in possession. Liege try to switch the play but put the ball out of play.
Nelson and Saka link well to get the ball into the box. Saka shoots and wins a corner. Liege defend the corner well and get the ball up to Arsenal’s penalty box. Emond collects a quick pass and shoots but Sokratis blocks the shot.
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Arsenal
24 mins: Arsenal try to play the ball out from the back but are caught by the high press and give the ball away. Lacazette tries to win it back and brings down Cimirot.
The free kick is played quickly down the left wing and put into the box but Martinez collects the ball.
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Arsenal
21 mins: Arsenal haven’t kept a clean sheet in 12 games and their defence looks ropey again tonight. Mpoku weaves with the ball as Arsenal dive into the tackles. He gets it out ot Emond, forward on the overlap, who squares it into the box. Laifis is the target but Mauropanos eventually boots the ball away.
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Arsenal
18 mins: Willock plays the ball into the box for Arsenal. Saka collects the ball and wins a corner. Arsenal send the ball into the box and it is cleared by Standard Liege.
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Arsenal
15 mins: Guendouzi gets the ball up to Lacazette who turns with it and plays the ball to Smith-Rowe. He runs into the right side of the box and shoots, Bodart sticks out a leg and deflects the ball out for a corner.
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Arsenal
12 mins: A long ball forward for the home side isn’t dealt with by David Luiz who heads the ball to Carcela. Carcela shoots and has his shot blocked. Mauropanos gets onto the ball and tries to clear it under pressure from Mpoku. His clearance is poor and the ball comes back to Carcela. He goes for goal again and softly hits it at Martinez.
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Arsenal
9 mins: Mpoku does for Guendouzi on the left side of the box and draws the Arsenal midfielder into fouling him.
Standard send the free kick into the box but Nelson heads the ball away.
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Arsenal
6 mins: Smith-Rowe tries to weave his way into the box for Arsenal and is taken out. He wins a free kick on the edge of the box.
Lacazette and David Luiz stand over the ball with Luiz leaving it for Lacazette. He shoots and hits the wall.
Standard Liege 0 – 0 Arsenal
3 mins: Was that an attempt? David Luiz goes for a cross field pass but mishits it so badly that the ball goes over the middle of the goal.
The two teams head out onto the pitch for the pre-matc ceremonies and handshakes. The pitch looks patchy in places and good cause a bit of discomfort.
Standard Liege vs Arsenal is next…
Ten minutes to go until kick off, Freddie Ljungberg has named a youngish team to take on Standard Liege, will they be good enough to get the victory?
Winning the group has suddenly become a more important task with both Inter Milan and Ajax dropping into the Europa League after last night’s Champions League ties.
Arsenal will secure top spot with a win. Man Utd, who play later, need just a point to top their group and Wolves are in with a shot of topping Group K as well.
Topping the group will give the teams more favourable opponents in the next round.
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What time does it start?
Standard Liege vs Arsenal kicks off at 5.55pm on Thursday 12 December.
Can I stream it?
The game will be available to live stream via the BT Sport app on your laptop, smartphone or tablet. Subscribers will also be able to watch it on BT Sport 2. Coverage starts at 5.30pm.
Prediction
It looks like the Londoners may have stumbled upon a winning formula in the victory against West Ham, having lost their previous encounter against Brighton in an embarrassing 2-1 home defeat. There’s a lot of work to be done but on account of the attacking fluidity seen at the London Stadium on Monday night, there’s no reason to believe Arsenal can’t get the job done against Standard Liege. Confidence levels should be back on the up too. A tricky, hard-fought 90 minutes await, but I’m backing Arsenal to edge it.
Standard Liege 1-2 Arsenal
Odds
Standard Liege: 5/2
Draw: 14/5
Arsenal: 19/20
