Vitória SC visit Arsenal in a Europa League Matchday 3 Group F game on October 24. This will be the first meeting between these two teams. Heritage Sports currently has Arsenal as a -366 favourite while Vitória SC is at +849. The draw is at +459 and the total is at 3.
Arsenal v Vitoria SC Preview and Prediction
Match Details
Thursday, October 24 at 3:00 PM ET
Emirates Stadium
Coverage: TUDN, fuboTV and B/R Live
Arsenal have not been particularly successful against Portuguese opposition, but at home, they’ve dominated them with four wins, one draw and just one loss and they have no losses and zero goals conceded in the last five games. Their 0-0 draw against Sporting CP in last year’s Europa League group stage actually ended their run of four consecutive wins in European competitions (the first three were against Porto).
Vitória SC’s two previous visits to England were in the first round of the UEFA Cup and they lost both games, scoring zero goals (a 5-0 loss against Aston Villa in 1983 and 2-0 loss against Portsmouth in 2008).
European History and Recent Form
Arsenal played in the UEFA Champions League for 19 straight seasons from 1998/99 to 2016/17 and they reached the UEFA Europa League semi-finals in their first attempt in 2017/18 when they lost to eventual winners Atlético Madrid, before outdoing themselves and reaching last season’s final, where Chelsea beat them 4-1.
The Gunners finished fifth in the Premier League last season to secure their third straight appearance in the UEFA Europa League group stage. They had won five straight Europa League games (one against Rennes, two against Napoli and two against Valencia) before losing in the final to Chelsea at Baku.
Arsenal won seven points at home in each of their previous two UEFA Europa League group stage appearances, they have not conceded home or away in any of their last seven group stage games and have won in seven of their last eight UEFA Europa League contests. Overall, their home record in the UEFA Europa League is 11 wins, three draws and one loss with six straight wins after last season’s draw against Sporting CP and they had clean sheets in five of those games.
Vitória SC finished in fifth place in the Primeira Liga last season to qualify for their fifth European competition in this decade and their first since the 2017-18 season when they finished last in the UEFA Europa League group stage. The Portuguese team reached the group stage this year after wins against Jeunesse Esch (1-0 away, 4-0 home), Ventspils (3-0 away, 6-0 home) and FCSB (0-0 away, 1-0 home) but they have not been able to make it further, finishing third in their group in their debut in 2013-14 and last in 2005-06 when they played the UEFA Cup group.
They were winless in 13 European away matches (three draws, 10 losses), a run dating back to a 1-0 road win against Wisła Kraków in September 2005 before they beat Jeunesse in this year’s second qualifying round but they have zero road wins in nine UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League group stage games (two draws, seven losses), falling in their last four.
Campaign so Far
Arsenal currently have two wins in two games to lead Group F with six points while Vitória SC have two losses and as far as their domestic leagues go, at the time of writing, the Gunners are third in the Premier League standings with 15 points in eight games, nine points behind Liverpool for first place, while Vitória SC are fourth in the Primeira Liga standings, seven points behind Famalicao for first place.
The Gunners are clearly the better team, not just over the years but this season, especially in the Europa League, with wins against Eintracht Frankfurt and Standard Liege, the two teams that beat Vitória SC. Add that to their track record at home in European competitions, particularly against Portuguese teams, and is hard to see another outcome than an Arsenal win, which is reflected in the odds. How can we bet on this game, then?
Arsenal v Vitória SC Betting
I’m looking at the Under here because of the value price. Arsenal have seven goals in two games in this competition and an offence led by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette can do some damage but they would have to score at least four goals to get this total Over because let’s face it, you can’t expect Vitória SC to contribute to the final tally.
Free Soccer Pick: Under 3 (+100)
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