Arsenal will be hoping that lightning doesn’t strike twice as they face Olympiacos in the Europa League last-16 after last year's agonising last-gasp defeat at the hands of the Greek side. 

The Gunners will be aining to avoid a repeat of last season's two-legged meeting between the two sides, which ended with an 119th minute El-Arabi winner to sink hearts at the Emirates.

The Gunners travel to Greece to the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium after a running out 4-3 winners against Benfica in a remarkable comeback. 

Form

Arsenal come into the game unbeaten in three games in all competitions.

Their deserved victory away to Leicester was followed by a frustrating 1-1 draw at Burnley and will be looking to bounce back and return to London with the upper hand for the second leg. 

Their last five games have produced two wins, two draws and one loss. 

Olympiacos are currently run-away leaders in the Super League Greece, holding a 16 point lead over their nearest competitor. 

They also overcame Dutch side PSV in the last round, with the all important away goal in the second leg leading them to a 5-4 aggregate victory. 

Their last five games have ended with two wins, one draw and two losses. 

Team news

Emile Smith-Rowe could return to the side after a muscle injury forced him off against Leicester and consequentially missed the draw with Burnley. 

Mikel Arteta has no new injury concerns but will be wary of team selection with Sunday’s all important North London Derby. 

Danger men

Youssef El-Arabi tops the scoring charts with 20 goals in all competitions, and will be hoping to hit the net against the team he cruelly knocked out in the dying minutes with his goal at the Emirates back in February last year. 

He is closely follows by Ahmed Hassan Koka, who has netted 11 goals while Greek international Georgios Masouras has scored nine times. 

Head to head

The teams have met 10 times in all competitions with both teams having identical records of five wins each. 

Mikel Arteta previews the game

"We have some feelings towards that team and we want to put it right in the next round.

"The disappointment that we had to digest, it took some time to do because it was a hard one.

"Now we have another opportunity. It's the beauty of this game. 

“It's a completely different context but the reality is the same that we have to beat them twice to go through in the competition and we have to be better than them.”