The draw for the last 8 of the Europa League is this evening. Here’s a glance at who we could be facing next and our chances assessed….
Chelsea –
A win each against each other in the League. It could come down to where both are in the Prem come next round. The further away from 4th, the more important this tie becomes. If one/or both are in top 4 by time of Finals, the pressure is off.
Napoli – Unlike last year when Sarri sacrificed this competition to try and win Serie A, the Italians are giving this tournament a real try. We would have to dramatically improve our away form to beat them over two legs.
Valencia – 7th in La Liga having been better in second half of season. More well organised and hard to break down rather than having any flair to fear.
Benfica – Involved in a fascinating title race in Portugal, so a team not used to losing often. They don’t travel well though, losing in the last round at Dinamo Zagreb, meaning we be favourites over two legs.
Slavia Prague – The last time we played, we beat them 7-0 at home before drawing 0-0 away in the only time they featured in the Champions League group stage. They are one round away from matching their best ever achievement in Europe, the semi-final of the UEFA cup in the early nineties. They have the benefit of no expectation, nothing to lose and everything to gain. Them at the Emirates for the first leg would be the kindest draw.
Villarreal– Being in the last 8 of the Europa League contradicts domestic form where they are 17th. While being in a relegation fight means it’s unlikely they will continue Spain’s dominance of this competition, they are treating it as the escape they need from La Liga, and the one opportunity to rescue their season from being a nightmare.
Frankfurt – Once a power house in Germany, have slowly rebuilt themselves over the years, winning their domestic cup for the first time in 3 decades. They beat Bayern Munich in that final and won at Inter, so are getting used to high stakes. They would be dangerous to play in terms of the pressure would be off them but we would be favourites.
Who would you like us to draw?
Dan Smith
I would love we battle it out with prague.
And let the big guns cancel each others out.
Knowing our luck, i most likely think we’ll draw either of Chelsea or Napoli. However i expect this team to atleast get to the finals.
Napoli or Benfica l, if you want to be the best.. You have beat the Best out of the best.
Doesn’t matter who we get now, we just have to improve our away form. Tank away in the Europa and the prem, that’s our season done. A team so on fire at home crumble away from home very strange for a top prem team.
Whoever we play doesn’t matter at this stage all we need from now are big performances away from home and the trophy is Arsenal ‘s ?
I hope it’s not Napoli. Everyone else are well beatable but IMO Napoli would be the one team I would save for the final.
Our next match is in 2 weeks?
A 2 week void now ?
Prague, Frankfurt, Villarreal or Benfica
Prague and Benfica are leading in their league, whereas Frankfurt is the fifth in Bundesliga
Arsenal would have a big advantage if getting Villareal in the draw. Villareal is very close to relegation zone and their forwards are very inconsistent in this season
I will prefer a tough clash now than be beaten at the final. Napoli, frankfurt or chelsea will help us prepare well and not get ahead of ourself, i reckon UE is a big match coach, the way we approach big games/games that matters are better than the midtables, thats y am still doubtfull of our top 4 finish. Hope we get it over d line
UE will likely see arsenal to a 4th consecutively Europa League final – Some suggest it would be a worthy send off for soon to retire Cech. Iv another angle we should secure our place in this years EL Final and do it for Capt Kos who missed out on a sure WC medal as a result of injury as well as having to suffer periodic spells of discord within the arsenal side. He’s not the highest paid either, but based on perseverance alone there’s not a player who deserves to lift the EL trophy more than the Boss.
Our players are becoming red card prone and yesterday it almost happened to Lava. Now if we were leading two nil and playing safely then why did he play such a rough game.
I was having this conversation with my mates during the game. I liked Laca’s aggression and it has been missing from the team for a long time.
However after he almost cross the line he calmed it down and played smart.
I want more of the team to be like that tbh
I think Chelsea will be drawn against Napoli and we will get Villarreal…
Valencia vs Arsenal
Frankfurt vs Benifca
Slavia Prague vs Chelsea
Napoli vs Villareal
Swap Arsenal and Villareal around and the draw is as per the actual draw.
And so considering this was the ties I expected it to be drawn as, it’s no surprised that the next tie is Napoli/Arsenal vs Valencia/Villareal
And the other ties making up the other side of the tie.
Fixed? Similar circumstances ran out for champions league ties I discussed with my Liverpool friend.
Fixed?
Arsenal have the harder side of the draw. Not afraid to play Napoli. Better then in the semi-final.
Could be Chelsea vs Arsenal Final.
Hope we can get a replacement for Ramsey
Cos he’s one of the few players with spine that we have
And we’ve seen recently he’s the only one that can also fill up Torreira’s role if Torreira gets injured (in relation to blocking our CB’s and not allowing free shots from the middle)
{Wenger totally didn’t care about this, though it was obvious every year [asides Song], he even let Coquelin go, who was seeming close to that}
Guendouzi and Xhaka, as good as are they are, are still tackle-shy and don’t have that awareness
Then for that first goal to Auba yday
While Ozil (who actually brings something beautiful to our game) and the other players around left Maitland to be able to find them out on his own,
Ramsey actually opened-up to make it easier for Maitland to spot a simpler pass without needing too much stress
That’s what u get from someone who likes covering the pitch and is always on the move
Hope we really get his replacement
Denis Suares – we have these type of players and always seem to forget we need those fighters
All of us seeing Laca in the lineup, already knew we would do well
Yes he may not score but we know the opposition will have a handful which will allow Auba be able to sneak up on them unnoticed
We need fighters too
Arsenal vs Napoli….confirm…hell yeahh
Now we get Napoli but I believe we will still scale through