Joleon Lescott
Former England defender

Liverpool got to the final in 2016 and gave a good account of themselves and Manchester United won it last season so Arsenal will see it as an opportunity to win some silverware.

The Premier League is not going to be too forgiving to Arsenal this year. It is a chance to get into the Champions League again and that is why the porthole was created - for teams like Arsenal who might fall short in the league.

There are a lot of games to play, the format could be better and adapted but in terms of incentives, it is a great bonus to play in the Champions League if you win it.

They will be one of the favourites now. I'm sure they are confident and rightly so.

Arsenal

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: "There are changes but they are all international players, I have to rotate in some games. Every competition is a chance of silverware, we did well in the cups last year.

"German teams are always tough to beat."

Wenger was speaking before the kick-off was delayed

Arsenal: Ospina, Holding, Mertesacker, Monreal, Bellerin, Iwobi, Elneny, Maitland-Niles, Walcott, Giroud, Sanchez. Subs: Macey, Wilshere, Mustafi, Reine-Adelaide, Kolasinac, Akpom, Nelson.

Cologne: Timo Horn, Klunter, Mere, Heintz, Rausch, Hector, Bittencourt, Hoger, Lehmann, Zoller, Cordoba. Subs: Kessler, Sorensen, Risse, Jojic, Osako, Guirassy, Jannes Horn.

Referee: Javier Estrada Fernandez (Spain)

Image source, Reuters

Almost time to finally get this match under way. Let's hope it stays safe and in control.

We are receiving lots and lots of messages from fans inside the Emirates at the moment, most of whom want the game to be called off.

You would have thought so wouldn't you?Who knows how this will affect players on both sides, as well. It will be finishing at about midnight, German time.

Image source, AFP

Mark Pougatch
Presenter

Surely the huge Cologne fans march through London would've alerted the authorities as to how many would try and get into the Emirates?

Perhaps not a match we would normally mention. In fact, definitely not a match we would normally mention.

But Swedish minnows Ostersunds' rise has been remarkable, and all the more fascinating as leading them on the way is a seasoned English coach, a York City youth product who never made it beyond the Northern Premier League, and a former army officer who wants his players to perform in a Tchaikovsky ballet. Intrigued? You can find out more here.

They beat Turkish side Galatasaray on their way to qualifying for the group stages. Tonight they face Zorya Luhansk from Ukraine.

We are still being told that the game will go ahead at Arsenal.

John Southall
BBC Radio Five Live football reporter

The Cologne fans are all over the Emirates, they're meant to have the three thousand seats behind one goal but it's become very apparent that they're pretty much in the whole lower tier at that end.

There is a riot police segregation in the middle of that tier but it's Cologne fans either side of it.

Image source, AFP

Various reporters are tweeting that the game is still in doubt, with reports that there are significant numbers of Cologne fans in the home end.

What a mess from top to bottom.

Everton

More from Ronald Koeman: "This is not the time or place to criticise players, I need to criticise myself because the team was not prepared for this tonight.

"We saw the clips of Gomez before-hand. That’s the individual quality of one player but the whole team of Atalanta was better prepared than we were today.

"We knew from the beginning of July the start of the season is really tough. Okay we need to expect it, but that’s not the problem – the problem is what we showed in the first half."

Image source, Reuters

Vitória Guimarães' starting XI tonight is made up entirely of non-Europeans; the first time this has happened in the Europa League.

Their starting XI contains four players from Brazil, two from Colombia and one each from Ivory Coast, Ghana, Venezuela, Peru & Uruguay.

Reporter Reshmin Chowdhury on BT Sport: "We have been hearing Cologne fans bought tickets from home fans and were trying to jump over the barriers and get into the away stand. Riot police turned up to control the situation.

"We spoke to a family whose girl was supposed to be a ball girl at the match but they are not coming now because of seeing the situation outside the ground.

"Uefa are saying the game will still kick off at 21:05 BST."

Everton

Everton manager Ronald Koeman speaking to BT Sport: “A lot went wrong. Except maybe after the first 10 minutes, where he had a little better of the ball and it was more comfortable.

"Ball position was poor but most painful was in the first half - they showed more aggression, they showed more passion. That’s really painful because it starts with that and then you need quality on the ball.

“I ask myself questions on what I was doing wrong against Tottenham, because it’s not how I like to see my team. We can play bad football, we can miss chances, but the commitment and passion they showed in first half was much bigger than we showed.”

English sides have lost 10 of their last 14 visits to Italy in European competition (W2 D2 L10).