Arsenal are scheduled to face Valencia on the road during the second leg of their Europa League semi-final. The Gunners are holding a 3-1 advantage after the first leg at the Emirates Stadium, but they still need to avoid any complacency with the tie far from done.
The north London side have been in a woeful run of form especially on the road this year, and they are no assurances of progressing to the final in Baku unless they manage to impress defensively, which has been a rare occurrence in the past few weeks.
Formation: 3-4-1-2
Predicted Lineup:
Petr Cech has been the club’s regular for the Cup and European competitions and the veteran is expected to start in goal ahead of Bernd Leno. The 36-year-old is due to retire from the game at the end of the season and he will be hoping that his final appearance comes through the competition’s final in Baku.
In the defence, Emery is likely to revert to a three-man backline. Sokratis and Shkodran Mustafi are strong contenders to retain their places from the weekend league draw against Brighton and the duo are likely to be accompanied by skipper Laurent Koscielny, who was an unused substitute on Sunday.
At right-back, Ainsley Maitland-Niles seems an automatic choice and the same goes for Sead Kolasinac on the opposite end. In midfield, Granit Xhaka is likely to retain his place from the starting lineup despite conceding a needless penalty against Brighton which ended the club’s top-four hopes.
Alongside the Swiss, Torreira appears the likelier candidate to feature ahead of Mateo Guendouzi. The Uruguay international has not been in the best of form during the backend of the season, but he has the better positional awareness when compared to Guendouzi, who has the tendency to regularly vacate from his central midfield role.
In the attack front, Mesut Ozil should be regarded as the better option for the number 10 role ahead of Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, considering the duo have been average with their creativity and link-up play in the final third of late.
Upfront, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette should start together once more. The duo were involved in all three goals at the Emirates last week and should prove a threat to Los Che’s backline, which looked vulnerable on the counter-attack in the reverse fixture.
Predicted Lineup: Cech; Mustafi, Sokratis, Koscielny; Maitland-Niles, Torreira, Xhaka, Kolasinac; Ozil; Aubameyang, Lacazette
