EUROPA LEAGUE: Arsenal and Man Utd should be petrified despite the anonymity of their Thursday rivals

The names of Arsenal's and Manchester United's tonight rivals in the UEFA Europa League round three are anything but intimidating. They are probably all Greek to you, and it's not just the case in Kenya and Africa, but in the vast part of Europe.

Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt and Cypriot slot Omonia Nicosia have been staying in the bottom drawers of European football for the last couple of decades. Their past, however, shouldn't affect the judgement because both of these teams reached the Europa League group stage, which means they do have the necessary quality to fight those greats like Man Utd or Arsenal.

Moreover, the above-mentioned Bodo/Glimt have made several stunning upsets in the previous 12 months, battering, for instance, Roma 6-1 near the Arctic Circle in the maiden edition of the UEFA Europa Conference League (later on, Roma went all the way to win the trophy despite that crushing loss).

CONFERENCE LEAGUE: Bodo scores 10 goals in 270 minutes against Mourinho's Roma

Last but not least, Bodo have already collected four points in the opening two games of Group A, which puts them at the top of the log with one game in their hand compared to Arsenal.

The Gunners' tie against PSV was delayed due to Queen Elisabeth's death, while Mikel Arteta's boys topped Zurich in the opening match. Bearing in mind only two out of four teams will progress to the next, knockout stage, it's needless to say how important it is for the Emirates outfit to clinch another victory in a head-to-head skirmish with Bodo. The good news is that the Norwegians are twice as weaker when they play away because they enjoy playing at home in those freezing circumstances and on artificial turf.

Manchester United - a club without authority both on the field and on the bench

At the same time, a few thousand miles away, the Red Devils are flying to warm Cyprus in the hope of resurrection after that excruciating 6-3 loss to Manchester City.

Unless they make amends and clinch a vital away victory against the minnows, Erik Ten Hag's peers can already say farewell to the Europa League after just three rounds. Real Sociedad are topping the group with all six points, while Sheriff and Man Utd keep fighting for that last knockout stage ticket with three points each.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - GROUP STAGE

Round 3

Thursday

19.45: (2.09) Crvena Zvezda (3.50) Ferencvaros (3.90)

19.45: (3.60) Helsinki (3.25) Ludogorets (2.19)

19.45: (1.58) Monaco (4.40) Trabzon (6.50)

19.45: (3.70) Malmo (3.40) Union Berlin (2.09)

19.45: (6.50) Sheriff Tiraspol (4.00) Sociedad (1.63)

19.45: (6.25) Zurich (4.30) PSV (1.61)

19.45: (5.00) Sturm (3.70) Lazio (1.84)

19.45: (13.0) Omonia (6.75) Man.Utd. (1.28)

22.00: (1.56) Freiburg (4.30) Nantes (7.00)

22.00: (2.09) Olympiakos (3.50) Qarabag (3.90)

22.00: (1.89) Roma (3.70) Betis (4.60)

22.00: (1.43) Fenerbahce (4.90) AEK Larnaca (9.00)

22.00: (1.48) Rennes (4.50) Dynamo Kyiv (8.50)

22.00: (1.89) Braga (3.50) St.Gilloise (4.40)

22.00: (3.10) Midtjylland (3.40) Feyenoord (2.35)

22.00: (1.28) Arsenal (6.75) Bodo (13.0)

***odds are subject to change