We are around an hour away until tonight’s huge semi-final clash between Arsenal and Villarreal at the Emirates, with a place in the Europa League final at stake.
The Gunners might be a little confident after the way they finished off the first-leg last week, earning an away goal as well as looking extremely dangerous in attack.
Our win at the weekend can’t have hurt the morale of our side either, leading from the sixth minute of play until the final whistle against Newcastle.
The manager kept lips tightly sealed ahead of tonight’s selection, refusing to rule out or talk up whether key players like Kieran Tierney, David Luiz or Alexandre Lacazette were in line to feature, which led us to predict this line-up earlier on today:
Leno
Chambers Holding Gabriel Tierney
Partey Xhaka
Saka Odegaard Smith Rowe
Aubameyang
As you can see, Mikel Arteta had slightly different ideas.
Edit. Xhaka pulled up in the warm-up and has been replaced by Tierney
This line-up hasn’t clouded the confidence I have had throughout the day that Arsenal WILL get the job done, although it would obviously have been a huge boost if Tierney had been ready to start.
It looks to me as if Saka has returned to left back, with Xhaka taking up his usual role in midfield, but time will tell.
What are your predictions after seeing the team?
Patrick