Arsenal travel to Spain to take on Valencia in the second leg of the Europa League semi-finals this Thursday.
While Chelsea have secured Champions League football for the upcoming season, Arsenal are still fighting for that same dream which means winning the Europa League becomes of the utmost importance now.
The Gunners will travel to the Mestalla with a handsome 3-1 lead but given that Valencia have that crucial away goal, Emery will have to make sure that his team do not indulge in yet another poor away game.
Arsenal news vs Valencia:
The Arsenal manager will obviously be without the likes of Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin and Danny Welbeck who have been out of action for a couple of months now.
Midfielder Aaron Ramsey picked up an injury a couple of weeks ago which rules him out action for the second leg in Spain.
This means the Juventus bound midfielder might very well have played his final game for the Gunners unless the club can reach the finals of the Europa League.
Lucas Torreira played in central midfield alongside Granit Xhaka during Arsenal’s Premier League draw vs Brighton. And while Xhaka is expected to keep his place, Torriera could very well be replaced by Matteo Guendouzi.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan played in midfield vs Brighton but the Armenian is expected to move up the pitch and play in alongside Alex Iwobi in a more advanced role.
Lacazette and Aubameyang both started up front in the first leg but given that the second leg will be played away from home, the manager is more or less certain to play only one centre-forward.
And we believe that it will be Lacazette who will be given the nod this Thursday.
Arsenal news: Gunners line up vs Valencia
First XI: Cech, Mustafi, Sokratis, Koscielny, Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Kolasinac, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Lacazette.
