Sevilla vs Arsenal

After overcoming a 2-0 deficit to hold Chelsea to a 2-2 Premier League draw last weekend, Arsenal head to the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan to meet Sevilla in a high-stakes Champions League Group B showdown.

Sevilla’s quest to make it out of the Champions League group stages for the first time since 2020/21 has been off to an unbeaten start, with the Andalusians drawing their first two matches against Lens and PSV Eindhoven. Both fixtures saw them break the deadlock, which was the case at the weekend as they squandered a late second-half lead to draw 1-1 against Real Madrid in La Liga on Diego Alonso’s touchline debut. With just one win across their last seven competitive outings (D5, L1), ‘Los Rojiblancos’ are hardly in pole position to knock Premier League giants Arsenal off their perch. But they’ve been hard to beat at home this term, going undefeated in five consecutive matches at Pizjuan (W2, D3) since back-to-back defeats in August. That said, they’ve only won four of their last 14 home games in the Champions League (D4, L6).

Sevilla’s dreadful run of form at Europe’s top table should inspire confidence around the Arsenal camp as they look to avenge a 3-1 defeat from their only previous Champions League visit to Pizjuan and bounce back from a catastrophic 2-1 loss to Lens last time out. The ‘Gunners’ marked their return to the Champions League for the first time since 2016/17 with a 4-0 thumping of PSV in their Group B opener. However, they’ve traveled poorly in the competition, losing their last two away games, and could make it three defeats on the bounce on the road for the first time since 2010/11. That’s a distinct possibility, given the Londoners’ disastrous all-time away record against Spanish opposition (W3, D3, L11), not to mention the last time they lost three consecutive Champions League away games, the third defeat came on Spanish soil to Barcelona.