Arteta hints at rotation for Newcastle and says Europa Semi is “crucial moment”

Many pundits have said that Arsenal were extremely lucky to get away with leaving Villarreal with just a one-goal deficit, after going down to ten-men with the scoreline at 0-2.

But maybe we did get lucky, and it is no surprise that we now need to beat Emery’s team well at the Emirates if we are to qualify for the big Final in Gdansk.

But right now we have to prepare for a mostly meaningless League game against a rejuvenated Newcastle side tomorrow afternoon, and Arteta has hinted that he has a lot of tired legs after the trip to Spain. “Let’s see who is available.” he told Arsenal.com. “We had a really demanding game again, the boys have had so many minutes so we will assess them tomorrow in the training session and see how everyone is, and try to get the line-up right.”

Photo by Bagu Blanco/BPI/Shutterstock 11880465dt – Villarreal Manager Unai Emery Villarreal v Arsenal, UEFA Europa League, Semi Final, First Leg,

Newcastle are playing like Champions now they are safe from relegation so Arteta knows it won’t be easy. “From the position they’re in, they’re going to come at us, they’re a really organised team, they’ve been playing much better recently so it will be tough. The amount of games that we are playing, every team has the capacity to make it difficult for you.”

But ultimately, a win or defeat cannot affect Arsenal’s season now, and I think Arteta is now aware that he only has one basket left to keep his eggs in: “Well, the Premier League is the competition where it is not in our hands to achieve what we wanted to do, because there are other teams in front of us. The only thing we can control is our performances and results and this is our main focus. Then we know that the semi-final is the crucial moment of the season.”

The return leg is even more crucial now after our defeat in Spain, I think Arteta will just use this match as a training game without worrying about the result, so we will probably end up winning 6-0!!!

Tags Arteta Newcastle

4 Comments

  1. Maybe he will play Elneny as a false 9 seeing it worked so well on Thursday .
    Get this clown out of our club and take his supporters with him.

    1. Don’t think Willock can play.
      But the semi second second leg so overshadows this game that avoiding injury to key plays would seem to be the major focus.
      Rest
      Saka Partey Xhaka Pepe
      ESR Gabriel Lacazette
      Tierney if fit may need game time same as Aubameyang.
      Ryan
      Bellerin Luiz Holding Cedric
      Chambers Elneny
      Nelson Odegaard Martinelli
      Nketiah

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