Pain in the Arsenal
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Arsenal Vs Valencia: 5 things we learned – I love centre-forwards

By Andrew Dowdeswell

VALENCIA, SPAIN - MAY 09: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Arsenal celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the UEFA Europa League Semi Final Second Leg match between Valencia and Arsenal at Estadio Mestalla on May 09, 2019 in Valencia, Spain. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
VALENCIA, SPAIN - MAY 09: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Arsenal celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the UEFA Europa League Semi Final Second Leg match between Valencia and Arsenal at Estadio Mestalla on May 09, 2019 in Valencia, Spain. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images) /
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VALENCIA, SPAIN – MAY 09: Matteo Guendouzi and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Arsenal celebrate victory with teammates after the UEFA Europa League Semi Final Second Leg match between Valencia and Arsenal at Estadio Mestalla on May 09, 2019 in Valencia, Spain. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
VALENCIA, SPAIN – MAY 09: Matteo Guendouzi and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of Arsenal celebrate victory with teammates after the UEFA Europa League Semi Final Second Leg match between Valencia and Arsenal at Estadio Mestalla on May 09, 2019 in Valencia, Spain. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images) /

2. Rest everyone at Burnley?

Unai Emery has managed the Europa League magnificently, illustrating the acumen that he has in navigating his way through the competition and into the latter rounds. Now, with just one more game to go, he has just one major question to answer: how does he handle the Burnley match?

Arsenal close out their Premier League campaign on Sunday afternoon in a meaningless match against Burnley. They will then have 17 days rest before the final in Baku. I assume that he will give his players some time off from training. They may also travel to Azerbaijan early to acclimate with the culture, atmosphere and time difference, as well as altering the body clocks, given that the match will kick off at 11 PM local time.

So what does Emery do against Burnley? Rest in terms of fatigue is not really a problem with such a gap between the final two matches of the season, but any sort of injury could keep a player from missing the final. You hardly want to risk Laurent Koscielny’s body at this stage, right? It might be time to wrap everyone in cotton wool.