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

Arsenal Predicted Lineup vs Villarreal

Arsenal: Leno; Bellerin, Holding, Mari, Xhaka; Partey, Elneny, Saka, Odegaard, Pepe; Aubameyang

Villarreal: Rulli; Mario, Albiol, Torres, Pedraza; Chukwueze, Coquelin, Parejo, Trigueros, Gomez; Moreno

Arsenal vs Villarreal Score Prediction

Coming into this second leg, fans will be having flashbacks – perhaps forced – of the previous round. Taking on Slavia Prague at home Arteta got his selections and setup horribly wrong. The Czech side were known for adopting a high line and the decision to field Willian and Alexandre Lacazette in the side did everything possible to avoid exploiting that.

Eventually in that game Nicolas Pepe and Aubameyang came on to turn the tide, only for slack defending to gift the opposition a late goal.

https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1389535281821388802

Then, in the second leg, the personnel changed and the result was one of the high points of the season. Arsenal knew where to hurt Slavia Prague and after a brief bedding in period they tore them to shreds in a first half blitz.

Will Arteta take a leaf out of his own book? Realise the errors of his ways and set them right on Thursday? While it’s impossible to place yourself in the manager’s head, he persisted with Xhaka at left-back in the win over Newcastle, which points towards continuity in that department.

But, who are we to know? Just like claiming Lacazette and Tierney may be fit it could be another batch of mind games.

What may help Arsenal is Emery’s approach – more to come on this – as a conservative mindset with one striker could play into the hosts’ hands. Depending how Villarreal it may be a fixture where set pieces prove crucial, which is a shame as Arsenal do not offer anything in the opposition box.

One saving grace is that surely Arsenal can’t be worse than they were in the first leg. They absolutely can, yet the performance of Ceballos did not help on the day and it showed clearly when Thomas Partey came alive once his midfield partner was sent off.

It’s going to be nervy, it’s going to be mostly horrible. It’s going to get done the hard way.

Score Prediction: Arsenal 2-1 Villarreal (Arsenal 3-1 Villarreal AET)