Europa League Gameweek 3 preview and predictions

The next round of Europa League fixtures is set to take place, with several matches for Portuguese football fans to keep a close eye on yet again.

With FC Porto hosting historic Scottish emblem Rangers, Braga travelling to Turkey to take on Besiktas, Sporting inviting Rosenborg and Vitoria Guimaraes facing the unenviable task of playing Arsenal at The Emirates, Portugal as a collective face a challenging day in Europe’s secondary competition.

They will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Benfica though, who managed to earn their first Champions League victory of the season, beating Olympique Lyonnais at the Luz.

But who will match Benfica’s result, and who is set for a long and painful evening? Here we look at each of the matches involving the Portuguese outfits - as well as Wolverhampton Wanderers - and predict what will happen this week:

Porto vs Rangers

Porto will be hoping to bounce back from their disappointing 2-0 defeat to Feyenoord in their last Europa League outing with victory over their Scottish opponents. Anything less will fail to appease the Porto faithful, and would put Porto’s chances of qualifying for the knockout stage of the Europa League in jeopardy.

Indeed, Porto actually currently sit bottom of an exceptionally tight group, with all four sides - Porto, Rangers, Young Boys and Feyenoord - sitting on 3 points at this early stage. Porto are 4th, though, by virtue of goal difference.

Rangers, meanwhile, come into this game having beaten Feyenoord at home in the first game week, before a very late goal in Switzerland meant they came away with nothing against Young Boys.

Home form is expected to be crucial in a group as tight as this, and Porto won’t be too conerned about dropping points away to Feyenoord, knowing that all the sides in the group are likely to drop several more points between now and the end of the group stage. Winning at home, though, is integral to any successful European adventure.

Rangers are going to provide tough opposition, particularly at Ibrox. However, Porto’s home advantage for this first meeting should be enough to see Porto edge out the match against a resilient opponent.

Prediction: FC Porto 2-1 Rangers.

Sporting vs Rosenborg

Sporting have had a really awkward start to the season, failing to impress in the league, while their last competitive match was a shock 2-0 loss to Portuguese third division outfit Alverca in the Portuguese Cup.

And their Europa League performances haven’t been much better either. An opening day defeat away to PSV was quickly followed up with a crucial 2-1 win over Austrian side LASK, putting their Europa campaign back on track, but that only tells part of the story.

Indeed, in that clash with LASK, Sporting fell behind very early on, and were second best all over the field for almost the entirety of the match. It, for a long time, seemed nearly impossible to envisage Sporting getting a point out of the match, let alone all three.

They somehow turned the game around though, thanks in part to the brilliance of talisman Bruno Fernandes, and those 3 points put them in a good place to qualify for the knockout stages come December.

And with their next game being what is their easiest Europa League match on paper, their fans will be fully expecting a comfortable win, particularly after the Portuguese Cup humiliation. In many ways, this is the perfect match for Sporting to quickly put that disaster behind them, coming up against the side they are fully expected to beat. A loss, however, could have seriously detrimental consequences on the team going forwards.

That shouldn’t happen though. Sporting should respond to their midweek failure and secure a relatively comfortable victory over their Norwegian opponents.

Sporting 3-0 Rosenborg.

Besiktas vs Braga

A complicated group on paper is proving even more complicated in reality, with little-fancied Slovan Bratislava also throwing their hat into the ring to qualify for the next round of European competition.

Going into the match, it is the Slovakian side that top the group on 4 points, ahead of Braga on goal difference, while Wolves are one place and one point further back on 3 points. Besiktas are yet to get off the mark.

That makes this game all that more complicated for the Portuguese visitors. Besiktas know that anything less than 3 points will be a disappointing result considering the context of this group, and Braga are set to face a side that are determined to prove a point and get their campaign back on track before it’s too late.

After a home loss to Wolves last time out, Besiktas really can’t afford to lose at home to Braga too, and it seems highly unlikely that Besiktas will be on 0 points after their opening 3 matches.

That’s not to say Braga can’t get something from the game though, with a point more than achievable against a side who have failed to live up to their pre-season expectations so far this season. It is sure to be tight and tense, and Braga, should they earn a draw, can consider that a good result overall.

Prediction: Besiktas 1-1 Braga.

Slovan Bratislava vs Wolves

That brings us nicely onto the Bratislava-Wolves match, which is a clash that, at the start of the season, you likely would have seen as a relatively routine victory for Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Bratislava have gone a long way to proving that’s certainly not the case though, more than holding their own against Besiktas as they earned a shock 4-2 victory on the opening day of the Europa League, while they showed excellent resilience and determination to hit Braga late on to earn a 2-2 draw in Portugal.

They have therefore proven that they are more than capable of scoring goals, and are certainly not just in the group to make up the numbers, even if they were initially widely perceived as the weakest team in an otherwise tight group.

Wolves are just starting to get back to their best though; after a testing start to the season, victories over Watford, Besiktas and Manchester City shows that Nuno’s side are getting that winning feeling back, and will go into the match in Slovakia full of confidence and aiming for victory.

Prediction: Slovan Bratislava 0-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Arsenal vs Guimaraes

It’s been said a few times now, but just being in the group stage can constitute a success for Guimaraes, who were handed a very difficult group with both Eintracht Frankfurt and Arsenal.

They performed very well in their last Europe League outing, it should be said, very much giving Frankfurt a match in Portugal, but they again failed to find the back of the net in the Europa League group stage, having also been unable to score in their first match against Standard Liege.

That will prove costly against Arsenal, who have shown that they are generally a clinical side, particularly on the European stage. If Guimaraes don’t defend as a team and show tremendous resilience, this could get ugly.

Guiamraes know that they are more than a decent side though, Ivo Vieira getting his team to play some entertaining football that has provided successful results, both in the Primeira Liga and in Europa League qualification.

Arsenal, however, are different quality to 95% of the teams Guimaraes have faced this campaign, and while they will be up for the game, fully motivated by the prospect of playing on the European stage against one of the top sides in world football, an early Arsenal goal could make this a less than enjoyable evening.

Prediction: Arsenal 3-0 Guimaraes.