Thursday 15 March 2018 20:03, UK
Charlie Nicholas is back with with his European predictions with Arsenal having a healthy lead to defend against AC Milan in the Europa League.
On Thursday night, the Gunners will be looking to book their place in the quarter-finals of Europe's second-tier competition when they take a 2-0 advantage back to the Emirates for their clash with the Serie A side.
After the shambles of Arsenal's last home game in this competition, when they nearly blew it against Ostersund, Arsene Wenger will play a strong line-up with a free weekend to follow.
This team still have issues despite the 3-0 win at the weekend but they are slowly getting a response.
I do think at close to even money it is a great price on Arsenal to win given the quality of players who should play and it is another opportunity to build momentum, and get the fans that are there on side.
I'm actually going a step further and backing Arsenal to win by three or more goals against this bog-standard Milan side.
However, I also have a feeling that there might be an announcement by the manager either on Friday or over the weekend to confirm that he is going to step down in the summer, perhaps going upstairs, easing the tension and allowing the team to have a go for the Europa League without the same strain.
He knows the fans don't hate him, they're just angry with him, but it was the first time I've heard him use the word 'hate' and I just think he's realising he needs to do something to ease the anger. I think when he looks up and sees 25,000 fans in the stadium he created that he'll come to a decision that something has to change.
Charlie predicts: 3-0 and Ozil to score first (80/1 with Sky Bet)
