Arsenal will take on Villarreal in the Europa League semi-final second leg at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday. The kick-off is at 21:00 CET.

Preview

The Gunners made the headlines across Europe when they suffered a 2-1 loss at Villarreal last week to make the Yellow Submarine favourites to reach the 2020/21 Europa League final ahead of the return clash in North London. No one arguably saw that coming but Arsenal indeed were lucky to find the back of the net at El Madrigal with Unai Emery's men producing one of their best performances this season last Thursday. Hence, Mikel Arteta's side have a huge task of making it to the Gdansk final as Villarreal look to be in their best form under Emery right now.

However, Arsenal have gone on to bounce back from the first-leg defeat by beating Newcastle United 2-0 in the Premier League on Sunday while Villarreal claimed all three points against Getafe (1-0) in La Liga on the same day.

Team news

Arsenal's David Luiz will miss this one due to a hamstring issue while Dani Ceballos is suspended after his red card at El Madrigal. Etienne Capoue, for his part, is also unavailable after being sent off in the first leg while Juan Foyth and Vicente Iborra remain on the sidelines.

Prediction

Well, this one is indeed a win-or-die fixture for Arsenal who have no other way of qualifying for next season's Champions League campaign than winning the current edition of the EL. Still, the Yellow Submarine have the most successful manager in the competition's history and Emery's presence in the Villarreal dugout makes us think that it might be too early for Arteta's Gunners to play in the EL final, given all their struggles and incocistencies throughout the 2020/21 season.

Tip

Villarreal to win or draw at 1.97 with 1XBET.