Europa League: Arsenal’s Biggest Chance

Arsenal vs Valencia

After a seriously poor run in the Premier League, Unai Emery’s Arsenal turns its attention to the Europa League on Thursday, when Valencia visits the Emirates in a semi-final first leg clash.

Three defeats on the bounce have left Arsenal’s top four hopes dangling by a thread, and the Gunners’ best chance of playing in next season’s Champions League is to win the Europa.

Valencia’s head coach Marcelino is likely to be thinking along very similar lines, as two losses have left his team in sixth place in La Liga, three points adrift of the invaluable fourth place and with just three games remaining. The home side is the favourite to progress to the final at odds of 1.79 with SBOBET, while Valencia is available at 2.12. Meanwhile, the latest outright Europa League 2019 betting odds have Chelsea as tournament favourites, but at 3.45 and 4.70 respectively, both Arsenal and Valencia will fancy their chances if they reach the final.

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Premier League

Talking Points

Gunners have been seriously misfiring

It’s hard to fathom exactly what has gone wrong at the Emirates in recent weeks. Not so long ago they had the fourth place firmly in their grasp, but the Gunners have lost four of their last five Premier League games and a capitulation against Leicester last weekend, losing 3-0 was particularly worrying for Unai Emery.

Star striker Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang has been out with a sinus problem and after drawing a blank at the Kingpower, Emery is likely to have him back in the side alongside his most potent partner Alexandre Lacazette. Aubameyang is Arsenal’s top scorer in the competition with four, and he’ll look to wing man Mesut Ozil to keep him and Lacazette well supplied.

With Arsenal in the midst of a terrible run of form, it’s easy to forget that Emery won more games from his first 50 than any other Arsenal manager in history; his 32 victories are an impressive nine more than Arsene Wenger achieved in his first 50 games in charge. So Gunners’ fans will put their faith in Emery for a while yet, particularly if he can stop his defence leaking goals.

Laurent Koscielny is Arsenal’s best defender, while Shkodran Mustafi has had a wretched season and Sokratis often looks like a red card waiting to happen.

And the recent Europe League 2019 updates have confirmed that Arsenal will be without key midfielder Aaron Ramsay and Denis Suarez, who is out for the season with a groin injury.

Valencia

Daniel Parejo has been impressing SBOBET fans this season scoring nine goals and making five assists — Daniel Parejo celebrates with Ezequiel Garay in Valencia’s match against Real Madrid

Los Che is in its own battle for a Champions League place as La Liga’s chasing pack has stuttered just as badly as their counterparts in the UK. Back to back defeats, including a five goal thriller against Atletico Madrid have damaged Valencia’s top four hopes; so expect Marcelino’s men to put up a good fight at the Emirates.

They are likely to play with one man up front, their Europa League top scorer, Goncalo Guedes who has three tournament goals so far. Daniel Parejo is Los Che’s danger man, able to split a defence with a pinpoint pass, and that will worry Gunners’ fans. The 30 year old midfielder has scored nine goals and had five assists in La Liga this season.

Los Che saw off Villarreal 5-1 on aggregate, in the quarter finals, denying Santi Corzola a reunion with his Arsenal buddies, but it does mean defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin will meet his former team-mates. I rather think he would be welcomed in front of the Gunners defence right now.

And there is a reunion for the Arsenal boss; he managed Valencia for four years from 2008 to 2012.

History

Unai Emery’s love affair with the Europa League lasted three years in Spain as FC Sevilla dominated the competition, winning in 2014, 15 and 16. And now he hopes to rekindle those fond memories at the Emirates.

The Gunners still have an outside chance of reaching the Premier League top four but this is a better opportunity, and Emery’s team has performed well in this competition. Arsenal were impressive in easing past Napoli in the quarter finals 3-0 on aggregate, but they will find Valencia a tough opponent.

Valencia has won two of the three head-to-heads with Arsenal and the other meeting ended in a draw, but it is ten years since these two teams last met.

Betting Tip

	Arsenal vs Valencia	Over 2.50 goals @ 2.00
	May 3, 3:00 (GMT+8)

Emery will be determined to tighten up his defence after conceding nine goals in three games but there’s only so much he can do in four days, and I suspect Parejo will be looking forward to testing the hosts.

At 2.20 to win the Gunners are favourites, with Valencia at 3.50 and 3.35 the draw. Los Che has only lost two of the last seven away European games so this is shaping up to be a cracking tie. Arsenal will attack and every time the visitors counter the home fans will hold their breath. I reckon both teams will score.