British clubs Europa League preview

The Europa League third round of games is this Thursday and there will be five British clubs involved. Let’s begin with Arsenal who are sitting top of their group with six points after two games. They face bottom group Victoria Guimaraes who have not picked up a single point yet. They will be playing at home and are expected to win this game comfortably. They have already won their “toughest” game of the group beating Frankfurt away from home on the opening day and should not too much trouble winning the group.

Manchester United are second in their group on goal difference with Partizan. They face a daunting trip to Belgrade to face the Serbian side which will be a tough match for them. They will be encouraged by their performance against Liverpool on Sunday and if they can play the same way then they have a good chance of winning the match. However, if they end up losing and AZ win their match then they would end the round third in their group which would not be good for them.

Wolves are in a tight group and they are currently third with three points after one win and one loss. They are only one point off first placed Slovan Bratislava who they have to play on Thursday. This is a long trip for them, and they will need to be 100% sharp if they want to come out of this match with a victory. This is a tough group for them as all the teams are pretty even but if they can win this match then it puts them in a good position.

Rangers are in the tightest group of the Europa League so far as all four teams have three points with only goal difference separating the four sides. However, they have to go to face Porto at the Estadio Do Drogao, which is usually a tough place to go and get a result. Rangers will want to put the weekend's performance against Hearts behind them, in which Gerrard said it was one of the worst performances he has seen from his team.

The other Scottish team is Celtic who are sitting top of their group with one win and one draw. They host Lazio who are one point behind them in the group. Lazio are also coming from an epic comeback where they were 0-3 down and then came back to draw the match 3-3 against Atalanta on the weekend. However, Celtic will also be buzzing after beating Ross County 6-0 and will come into this game confident that they can win it.