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

Arsenal Team News vs Villarreal

Not much change from the first leg, despite by this point supporters expecting to have Alexandre Lacazette leading the line and Kieran Tierney bringing an end to this Granit Xhaka left-back experiment. One that has worked, just has run its course.

But no, Arteta confirmed in the pre-match interview against Newcastle, of all places, that Lacazette and Tierney hadn’t trained in the build-up to Sunday and were expected to miss the ‘upcoming matches’, not just Thursday.

We won’t delve into the bizarre ‘in contention’ updates again. However, while both were pictured in training on Tuesday, it nonetheless must be too soon for either to start.

It was a hammer blow to see David Luiz forced off against Newcastle having made his return from a knee injury, especially since the time he was on the pitch perfectly illustrated the distribution qualities he possesses, the like no centre-back in the team can match.

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1389585076053291010

He is set to be back before the end of the season with the hamstring pull not as bad as initially feared, yet he’s still a certain absentee for Villarreal. As his Dani Ceballos, who is suspended.

Up front it looks like being Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to lead the line in a false-nine role (that’s a joke) after featuring for 78 minutes against Magpies, an almost perfect afternoon for him as he also got on the scoresheet.

One of the key aspects of Sunday’s game was who wasn’t playing: no Bukayo Saka or Emile Smith Rowe gave the pair rests they sorely needed. Indeed, Arsenal now rest their academy stars for big games.

As for the visitors they come into this tie with a near clean bill of health, missing Juan Foyth who was forced off with injury in the first leg as well as Etienne Capoue, who got himself sent off despite valiant attempts to feign the most pathetic injury ever before then starting just a few days later in La Liga.