Arsenal vs Villarreal preview: How to watch, predicted lineups, score prediction & injury updates

Arsenal host Villarreal at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday aiming to overturn a 2-1 first leg deficit in their Europa League semi-final second leg clash. Here is the match preview.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time.”

“So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide.

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”

Mikel Arteta will have wished that debacle of a setup for the first leg had not have happened. So do all supporters. Unfortunately, that fate is in his and his players’ hands, and the next 90 minutes is theirs to amend.

How will they go about doing that? How will Arteta see fit to approach this fixture? How will Unai Emery see fit to approach this fixture? We’ll know soon enough on Thursday.

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Arsenal vs Villarreal Europa League preview: Thursday’s semi-final second leg clash vs Unai Emery’s side

What is wise to do is forget the failings of the first leg. Bury them deep in the mind. Arteta sought to bamboozle his opponent and succeeded only is puzzling his own team. Poor ploy, acceptably bad execution. That’s in the past now, no point crying over spilled milk and so forth.

So, it’s time to put it right.

Learn from previous errors and put out a team with the tactical blueprint ingrained in them like a dodgy Greek island tattoo, one they can’t forget even if they try very, very hard to cover up.

Arsenal need this. Not much was made of the importance of winning last season’s FA Cup but if they hadn’t have secured that trophy this entire situation wouldn’t have arisen in the first place. The transformative impact of lifting this European title will reverberate into the months and years ahead.

It starts by beating Unai Emery’s Villarreal. Of course, beating them may not do. A 3-2 win and Arsenal are out. It’s either a 1-0 victory – a highly unlikely scenario given the nervousness that echoes around fixtures at the Emirates – or by two clear goals.

A strange occasion seeing Emery back on the carpet will be one clipped up and meme’d until the cows come home. Does the crushing blow of crashing out at this stage really need to be more brutal considering he’s the one who oversaw it?

That would be playing the occasion, always a damaging approach to fixtures. Arsenal need to play the game, their game, in the manner they know and a one-game shootout with Manchester United awaits. Get it done.

How to Watch on TV

When Is Kick Off? Thursday 6 May
What Time Is Kick Off? 20:00 (GMT)
Where Is it Played? Emirates Stadium
TV Channel/Live Stream? BT Sport (UK) fuboTV (USA)
Referee? Slavko Vinčić