Ray Parlour hopes Arsenal avoid ‘tricky’ Rangers tie and backs Manchester United as Europa League favourites
Ray Parlour hopes Arsenal can avoid a ‘tricky’ Europa League meeting with Rangers and feels Manchester United are the favourites to win the competition.
The Gunners needed a last-gasp winner from captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to edge past Benfica in Athens on Thursday night and book their place in the last-16.
It was an error-strewn display from Mikel Arteta’s side with two mistakes from Dani Ceballos leading directly to goals for their Portuguese opponents – the first was a free-kick given away on the edge of the box, and the second a feeble backpass.
With the aggregate score tied at 3-3 and Benfica heading through on away goals, Aubameyang popped up on the end of Bukayo Saka’s expert cross to earn his side a 4-3 victory and save his side’s blushes.
Meanwhile, the goals were also flowing at Ibrox as Rangers beat Antwerp 5-2 to secure their place in the Round of 16 with a 9-5 win on aggregate.
Not only are Steven Gerrard’s side flying in Europe, but they are 18 points clear of Celtic in the Scottish Premiership, and Arsenal legend Parlour hopes his side can avoid them in Friday’s last-16 draw.
He told talkSPORT: ‘Well, I wouldn’t want to get Rangers, I think for Arsenal that’s a really tricky game. The way Steven Gerrard is approaching games, going all-out attack.
‘They’re conceding, very exciting game against Antwerp but, he’s done the job again.
‘Last-16, they [Rangers] will be confident they can go a long way in this tournament.’
Manchester United and Tottenham are the other British teams through to the next round, while Leicester City were dumped out by Slavia Prague.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United eased to a 4-0 win against Real Sociedad over two legs, and Parlour feels they are the frontrunners to win the Europa League.
‘I think Manchester United will be favourites, and then you’ve got to look at clubs like Spurs, AC Milan, Arsenal, clubs like that,’ he added.
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