Aaron Ramsey
Aaron Ramsey will have to bring his best game if the Gunners are to sail to the next round Getty

Arsenal travel to Olympiacos on Wednesday, 9 December, in what can arguably be defined as the most important game of their season so far. The Gunners are on the brink of Champions League exit and nothing but a win, albeit by a margin of two goals or more, can save them the blushes.

Where to Watch Live

Kick-off is set for 7:45pm GMT. Live coverage of the game will be on BT Sport Europe and BT Sport Europe HD.

Overview

Olympiacos have won all their 12 league games so far and have only been beaten by Bayern Munich across all competitions, which makes it a daunting prospect for the north London club who have to get a result against the Greeks. The Gunners have failed to win in their last three visits to Greece but all those losses have come with a depleted side having already confirmed qualification in the earlier stages.

The urgency and the quality on show are likely to be a bit beefier this time around given the prize at stake but Olympiacos will be backing themselves to qualify as they only need to shunt out the Gunners to secure progression into the next round. The Greeks are unlikely to find it as easy to score goals this time around, given they were gifted a goal by David Ospina in the earlier fixture, who dropped a corner into his own net to let Olympiacos take the lead. Petr Cech will marshal the back four this time around, giving the north London club some much needed stability at the back.

Arsenal are going through an injury crisis, with half of their first team players currently sidelined through injury. Santi Cazorla, Francis Coquelin and Alexis Sanchez are the biggest misses, with the former two out for a considerable length of time while Sanchez has a chance to feature against Manchester City later this month.

Aaron Ramsey and Mathieu Flamini are marshalling Arsenal's midfield at this point but their performance against Sunderland is unlikely to instil much faith in Arsenal supporters, with Ramsey bombing forward at each opportunity and Flamini unable to display the same positional nous as Coquelin.

The Gunners will be banking on Mesut Ozil to provide the creative spark and use the pace of Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to prise open the Greek defence. The rest of the team is likely to remain unchanged with Joel Campbell keeping his place following his goal last weekend.

What Managers Say

Marco Silva: ''It is true that we have the opportunity to knock out Arsenal. We will fight until the end to achieve this. Never in any game, in any event, did we prepare to lose and so we will not be doing that now.''

Arsene Wenger: "We play against a side that will be motivated but we face that every week. Against a side that is at the moment qualified but they can lose what they have and that can create a fear factor, the best way for us to achieve it is to believe in our quality. Mentally, you prepare yourself to adapt to every situation and give the right response to every situation you face. We will have to adapt to what is happening on the pitch and to all of the scenarios, accept them and respond.''

Betting Odds (888Sport)

  • Olympiacos Win: 3.76
  • Draw: 3.85
  • Arsenal Win: 2

Team News

Olympiacos

Possible XI: Roberto, Elabdellaoui, Botia, Siovas, Masuaku, Cambiasso, Salino, Kasami, Fortounis, Pardo, Ideye

Arsenal

Possible XI: Cech, Monreal, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Bellerin, Flamini, Ramsey, Ozil;Campbell, Giroud, Walcott

Arsenal FC