2022/2023 EL Group A: Arsenal - PSV - Bodo/Glimt - Zürich

[bugylibicska]

To win the group:

Arsenal 1.22
PSV 6.00
Bodo/Glimt 9.00
Zurich 67.00

PSV and Bodo will fight it out for 2nd place behind Arsenal. The Arsenal - PSV game was postponed.

Bodo/Glimt 4
Arsenal 3(1)
PSV 1(1)
Zurich 0

Next: Zurich - PSV, Arsenal - Bodo/Glimt.

[Jua Ferreira]

prediction after md2:

Arsenal
Bodo/Glimt
PSV
Zurich


Arsenal are still the heavy favorite in the group. Bodo did his job on the 2nd matchday, however this group is still open to all results.

[Dragonite]

Congratulations Bodo/Glimt!

So far they're keeping the same "win at home and draw away" pace that they had last season in the Conference League. Can they do it against Arsenal too?

Now this group will be incomplete for a long time, Arsenal vs PSV from round 2 will only be played between rounds 4 and 5.

[bugylibicska]

To win the group:

Arsenal 1.17
PSV 5.00
Bodo 13.00
Zurich 67.00

Both Arsenal and PSV won as expected, so nothing changed.

Arsenal 6(1)
PSV 4(1)
Bodo 4
Zurich 0

Next: Bodo - Arsenal, PSV - Zurich.

[Dragonite]

Expected wins for Arsenal and PSV.

This 1-5 defeat vs PSV was the biggest defeat in Zürich's EL history, above 0-3 vs Monchengladbach in 2014 and 0-3 vs Villarreal in 2014.

They're also in the longest losing streak in their EL history, 5 games (Napoli x2, Arsenal, Bodo/Glimt and PSV), and in the longest winless streak in their EL history, 8 games (Leverkusen, AEK Larnaca and Ludogorets plus the 5 games from the losing streak).

Zürich is another team that changed manager between rounds 2 and 3, Franco Foda out and Genesio Colatrella in, but so far the managerial change didn't improve things, their situation keeps getting worse.

They'll need at least four points from the following three games to avoid being last placed here, and they'll need at least five to avoid being the worst ever Zürich in EL history.

[Jua Ferreira]

prediction after md2:

Arsenal
Bodo/Glimt
PSV
Zurich

Arsenal are still the heavy favorite in the group. Bodo did his job on the 2nd matchday, however this group is still open to all results.

Being in the last place in the Swiss league also, Zurich will most likely finish without any point. It's kind of interesting that the last Swiss champion is in this position.
Arsenal won in Norway despite resting key players. If they beat Psv in London or in Eindhoven, we can assume that they will finish the group as leader, although it is not mathematically certain.
PSV scored 10 goals against Zurich in two games but it wouldn't surprise me if they cant get any points in their remaining 3 games. One of the determining factors in this group is how heavy the rotation by Arsenal will be done in the Netherlands if Arsenal beat PSV in London.
But in the end, if Bodo/Glimt win their remaining two games, I think they will finish the group above PSV because I don't think it's very likely that PSV will beat Arsenal in both games. For this reason, I keep my initial prediction.

Arsenal
Bodo/Glimt
PSV
Zurich

[bugylibicska]

To win the group:

Arsenal 1.10
PSV 7.00

Bodo still have a chance to catch PSV, if they beat them in Norway and PSV won't get more than 3 points against Arsenal. Quite possible.

Arsenal 9(1)
PSV 7(1)
Bodo 4
Zurich 0

Next: Arsenal - PSV then PSV - Arsenal, Zurich - Bodo.

[Ricardo]

No doubt Arsenal will win this group easy
Bodo-PSV on MD6 will decide who will be 2nd and 3rd. It might be that another draw will cause this to go to GD-decider. PSV has to be carefull to not lose the Zurich-GD advantage.
Thursday the group continues

[SimonB]

No doubt Arsenal will win this group easy
Bodo-PSV on MD6 will decide who will be 2nd and 3rd. It might be that another draw will cause this to go to GD-decider. PSV has to be carefull to not lose the Zurich-GD advantage.
Thursday the group continues

I am not sure about easy, or even that it is sure to happen, you are our strongest opponent in this group and we have a busy fixture schedule this month. This is partly due to the normal busyness of the Premier League, partly due to the crammed European schedule because of the world cup, and partly due to unforeseen circumstances for the delayed fixture this week. We will therefore be forced to rotate some players again, but I don't think that we can do this as much as we did against Zurich for example or their would be a big risk of losing points. I think that we will try to field a fairly strong line-up for the home game, and if that works perhaps take a little risk for the away fixture as we ought to win our home fixture vs, Zurich, especially if the points are necessary at that stage.

[Ricardo]

No doubt Arsenal will win this group easy
Bodo-PSV on MD6 will decide who will be 2nd and 3rd. It might be that another draw will cause this to go to GD-decider. PSV has to be carefull to not lose the Zurich-GD advantage.
Thursday the group continues

I am not sure about easy, or even that it is sure to happen, you are our strongest opponent in this group and we have a busy fixture schedule this month. This is partly due to the normal busyness of the Premier League, partly due to the crammed European schedule because of the world cup, and partly due to unforeseen circumstances for the delayed fixture this week. We will therefore be forced to rotate some players again, but I don't think that we can do this as much as we did against Zurich for example or their would be a big risk of losing points. I think that we will try to field a fairly strong line-up for the home game, and if that works perhaps take a little risk for the away fixture as we ought to win our home fixture vs, Zurich, especially if the points are necessary at that stage.

Hahaha, you are joking, right? PSV has the same busy schedule (5 midweeks Europa League matches ) ,but a lesser bench.
And nr1 of the Premier Legue against the team that lost from the bottomclub of the Dutch league? No doubt Arsenal would win.

And so they did. I hope they will send a C team to Eindhoven next week….

[SimonB]

No doubt Arsenal will win this group easy
Bodo-PSV on MD6 will decide who will be 2nd and 3rd. It might be that another draw will cause this to go to GD-decider. PSV has to be carefull to not lose the Zurich-GD advantage.
Thursday the group continues

I am not sure about easy, or even that it is sure to happen, you are our strongest opponent in this group and we have a busy fixture schedule this month. This is partly due to the normal busyness of the Premier League, partly due to the crammed European schedule because of the world cup, and partly due to unforeseen circumstances for the delayed fixture this week. We will therefore be forced to rotate some players again, but I don't think that we can do this as much as we did against Zurich for example or their would be a big risk of losing points. I think that we will try to field a fairly strong line-up for the home game, and if that works perhaps take a little risk for the away fixture as we ought to win our home fixture vs, Zurich, especially if the points are necessary at that stage.

Hahaha, you are joking, right? PSV has the same busy schedule (5 midweeks Europa League matches ) ,but a lesser bench.
And nr1 of the Premier Legue against the team that lost from the bottomclub of the Dutch league? No doubt Arsenal would win.

And so they did. I hope they will send a C team to Eindhoven next week….

It wasn't easy though so I would claim to be partly correct, and by the end of the match we were close to a full normal starting 11, much stronger than the team that we fielded against Zurich and slightly stronger than the two matches against Bodo.

[Ricardo]

…but it also proved my point. They start with a lesser 11 and if that doesn’t work they improve until they win. They are clearly the better team. By fielding lesser players they take a little risk to not win, but that risk was pretty low. Though there was a huge chance with de Jong free for the goal, but Teze couldn’t get the ball there for some strange reason.

Arsenal will not start with their best 11 next week either. I hope PSV can do a little better there and get a draw. Though I wonder if that makes any difference for the groupstandings.
Bodo will win from Zurich, PSV will have the better GD ( I still assume)
So in case of a draw in Bodo-PSV, PSV will have the advantage, no matter if they draw vs Arsenal or not. A win for Bodo will always result in Bodo 2nd and PSV 3rd
Worse even. Say PSV manages to win vs Arsenal, then still Bodo will become 2nd with a win over PSV because of H2H….

Well as a 2nd you could meet Barcelona and go out in the mix KO stage. Maybe it is better to become 3rd and continue in ECL, have another run to reach the final…..

[Dragonite]

Congratulations Arsenal!


As expected they're winning every game here and qualified with two games to spare.

They already won their group with a 6-0-0 in their previous EL participation in 2020/2021. Will they do it again here?

This 1-5 defeat vs PSV was the biggest defeat in Zürich's EL history, above 0-3 vs Monchengladbach in 2014 and 0-3 vs Villarreal in 2014.

They're also in the longest losing streak in their EL history, 5 games (Napoli x2, Arsenal, Bodo/Glimt and PSV), and in the longest winless streak in their EL history, 8 games (Leverkusen, AEK Larnaca and Ludogorets plus the 5 games from the losing streak).

Zürich is another team that changed manager between rounds 2 and 3, Franco Foda out and Genesio Colatrella in, but so far the managerial change didn't improve things, their situation keeps getting worse.

They'll need at least four points from the following three games to avoid being last placed here, and they'll need at least five to avoid being the worst ever Zürich in EL history.

Meanwhile Zürich keeps reaching new lows.

Now the biggest defeat in their EL history was the 0-5 vs PSV, their losing streak grew to 6, their winless streak grew to 9...

They changed manager once again, in round 4 it was Bo Henriksen, but the situation keeps getting worse, and they're getting closer and closer from being the worst ever Zürich in EL history.

They must win against Bodo/Glimt this week, otherwise they'll finish bottom of this group.

[Korgutt]

When PSV is not allowed to sell tickets against Bodø/Glimt next week will this section be empty or could Bodø/Glimt sell tickets here for their own fans?

[bugylibicska]

To win the group:

Arsenal 1.05
PSV 9.00

Surprisingly Arsenal lost and also Bodo, so the excitement was killed off for the Bodo - PSV game.

Arsenal 12
PSV 10
Bodo 4
Zurich 3

Next: Arsenal - Zurich, Bodo - PSV.