Since the draw for the Europa League group stage, Portuguese side Vitória de Guimarães have been looking forward to their clash against Arsenal.
The visit to the Emirates Stadium is the hardest challenge in their schedule and has created a lot of expectation, but now it turns out this is a really bad week to do it.
Vitória are in a really bad position in the Europa League. They’re fourth in the group, without a single point in their first two matches.
Now to confirm their bad form, they’ve just been knocked out from the Portuguese Cup by fourth division side Sintra on penalties this weekend.
And to make things worse, Vitória are going to London without two important players.
As reported by newspaper Record today, Valeriy Bondarenko and Lucas Evangelista, both regular starters for the club, are missing the trip with the squad.
Bondarenko has broken a finger, while Lucas has a thigh injury. They’re two of the most used players this season, and now shouldn’t even travel to London for the Arsenal match.
