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The UEFA Europa League, Europe's second most prestigious club competition will start from 20th September. This competition includes teams who have won the domestic cup competition in their country or finished their domestic league with a high enough ranking to render them eligible for Europa League football.
This year's tournament includes English teams Arsenal and Chelsea, as well as teams from other leagues such as: Sevilla, Betis and Villarreal, who represent La Liga; AC Milan and Lazio from Serie A; Eintract Frankfurt, Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig from Bundesliga; and Marseille along with Bordeaux from France.
Here, we take a look at the 10 most interesting matches to look forward to on UEFA Europa league MatchDay 1:
#1 PAOK vs Chelsea
Chelsea have started the season in fine form winning all the five matches they played in the Premier League this year. A change in philosophy has helped Chelsea get to the top of the table after five rounds of football in the Premier League. But their adventure in Europe starts with a trip to Greece where they will face PAOK.
PAOK finished second last season coming behind AEK in the Greece Superleague. Chelsea will be looking to rest a few of their main players, but still they have players like Morata and Willian who did not start this week against Cardiff. Chelsea will be looking to continue their impressive run in the Europa league also.
#2 Arsenal vs Vorskla
Arsenal also had a change this season when Arsene Wenger left after 22 years and Unai Emery arrived from PSG to take control over a fledgling side. Unlike Chelsea, Arsenal players do need some time to adapt to Emery's style of play. Nonetheless, after a few hiccups, when they suffered losses to Chelsea and Manchester City at the start of the season, they have gone on to win against West Ham and also away at Cardiff and Newcastle.
Vorksla finished 8th in the Ukrainian Premier League last term, but did manage to win the Cup competition by virtue of which they are in Europa. While trips to Ukraine are generally tough, Vorksla is no Shakhtar and Arsenal should defeat them.
#3 Sevilla vs Standard Liege
Sevilla have won the competition five times and are the only team to have retained the trophy twice. But last season, Sevilla were inconsistent, which was evident by the fact that they finished seventh in La Liga behind Villarreal and neighbours Real Betis. They did, however reach the finals of the Copa Del Rey and the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League defeating Manchester United at Old Trafford. Finishing seventh, they could not guarantee Europa league football and already have had to go through a tough qualifying process to get here.
Standard Liege finished second in the Pro-Belgian league behind Club Brugge and will be expected to put a strong fight at Seville. The new Sevilla coach Pablo Machin would be looking to get started with win in Europe after a mixed start in La Liga already this season.
#4 Olympiacos vs Real Betis
Betis surprised a number of people last season when they finished fifth in the La Liga ahead of Villarreal and Sevilla and thus guaranteed themselves of Europa League football. This season too, they have started on a strong note defeating Sevilla and drawing with Valencia.
Olympiacos finished 3rd in the Greece Super League and will be evenly matched for Betis, but Betis have already shown this season that they can take on quality opponents and look to start with a win in Greece.
#5 Villarreal vs Rangers
This will be a very tough match for both the teams, as both the teams have had a rough start to the season. Villarreal are yet to win a match in La Liga after three games and currently sit in 19th place, whereas Rangers have 8 points from 5 matches and are 5th in the Scottish League.
Rangers, under Steven Gerrard, will be looking to defeat this vulnerable Villarreal side, but the question for both the sides this season will be whether they can handle multiple domestic and European competitions at the same time.
#6 Dudelange vs AC Milan
AC Milan currently sit at 15th in the Serie A standings, but the league position is deceiving as Milan have played one fewer match than the rest due to the Genoa tragedy. AC Milan's first two matches were against Napoli and Roma. They were in the lead 2-0 against Napoli, but ultimately succumbed to 2-3 defeat while they defeated Roma with a last gasp winner. So far, Gattuso's men have shown the willingness to fight and should easily defeat the winners of the Luxembourg National Division.
#7 Lazio vs Apollon Limassol
Lazio have only won one out of three games in Serie A, but the two losses have come against Napoli and Juventus. Simone Inzaghi has installed a free-flowing style of football in Lazio and last season they narrowly missed out on Champions League football losing their place to Inter Milan on the final day of the season.
Limassol came second in the Cypriot first division and Lazio would be expected to get the better of them.
#8 Marseille vs Eintract Frankfurt
Olympique Marseille are the runners-up of the UEFA Europa League 2017-18 edition where they lost in the finals to Atletico Madrid. Last season, they also lost out on a place in the Champions League as they finished behind Lyon. This year, they would looking to go even further and win the Europa league.
Frankfurt, under Nico Kovac won the DFB Cup defeating Bayern Munich in the finals and secured themselves Europa League football. But since then, Kovac has left for Bayern and new coach Adi Hutter has already been knocked out of the DFB Cup in the first round itself. Marseille, under Rudi Garcia would be looking to defeat this Frankfurt side at home.
#9 RB Leipzig vs Red Bull Salzburg
The first match Day also sees the two Red Bull sister clubs facing each other. RB Leipzig, last season's quarter finalists finished sixth in the German Bundesliga and failed to live up to their promises from the 2016-17 season. They will face Austrian champions Salzburg, last season's semi finalists.
Salzburg had defeated Dortmund and Lazio on their way to the semi-finals before losing in extra time to Marseille. This match will be crucial in deciding the group winners out of these two teams.
#10 Ludogorets vs Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen came 5th in the Bundesliga last season and will face the Bulgarian champions Ludogorets. Leverkusen, have already shown that they are one of the best in Germany as they lost out on a Champions League place to Frankfurt by a whisker.
Last year, Ludogorets went down to Milan in the Round of 32 in the Europa league, but Leverkusen are expected to win this group and defeat Ludogorets.
