Match Day Thread Arsenal vs Valencia - Matchday Thread - Europa League Semi-Final

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Venue: Emirates Stadium
KO: 20:00 GMT
Date: 2nd May 2019


Overall Record

All: 5
Wins: 1
Draws: 1
Losses: 3

Last six meetings

Valencia 2-1 Arsenal
Arsenal 0-0 Valencia
Valencia 1-0 Arsenal
Arsenal 2-1 Valencia
Valencia 0-0 Arsenal (Valencia win on pens)

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Team News:

More to follow...

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I actually think we'll do a lot better against Valencia that we have against Palace, Wolves and Leicester. They won't have the same intensity as the premier league teams, and whilst they are still a decent outfit, I'm expecting a big response from our team on the back of 3 straight defeats. Hopefully we can win this one by 2 or 3 goals at home to give us a real platform to go away with and get to the final.

 

Looks like Ramsey won't be getting the fairytale ending he would have wanted.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48119749

Shame really. Even though I don't think he's worth the money Juve are paying him, and he has frustrated me a lot over his Arsenal career, he's been a very important player the last few months. He is the only goalscoring midfielder we had.

Let's hope we can still end the season well because I still want to win the Europa anyway. It's time for the other players to step up now. No time for passengers at all.

 

Any good stream?

 

Gonna check footybite and firstrowsports in a bit

 

Massive game this tonight. We really need to be at our best and get the crowd behind us tonight, if we do I think we've got a great chance to score a couple of times and take a good lead to Valencia. It's imperative that we keep a clean sheet tonight though.

 

Disgraceful there from Mustafi. Judging by the first 15, you boys are in big trouble.
Weak as Piss.

 

****s sake,

Mustafi doesnt even jump.

 

****e defending again

 

Get in

 

Great response.

Pretty much sums our side up. Great attack - terrible defence.

 

Yeeeessssss

 

Lacazette you ****ing beauty

 

Still think we need press Valencia a bit more here. We're giving them far too much time on the ball.

 

Fuuuuccck Yeah - that goal was crucial IMO.

 

Get the **** in

 

Our forwards have been the leaders today Not only getting the goals but also closing down and defending from the front.
Kolasinac has had a very good second half.

 

That's a great result in the end tonight. Could have been a nightmare evening after conceding that early goal, but credit to the lads and Lacazette and Aubameyang in particular for digging us out and giving us a 3-1 lead to take into the 2nd leg

 

Im not going to lie, when we went 1-0 down, I was thinking, anything less than a 3-1 win now and we are in trouble...

thank **** for auba and that late goal. I would not have been confident at all going into the return leg 2-1 up.

 

When we conceded the early goal, I was fearing the worst because Marcelino's Valencia have a habit of being able to defend deep and hit teams on the counter attack, so I thought it was going to be a loooong evening. But I was wrong. A combination of Valencia's stupid high line against Aubameyang, their goalkeeper's erroneous decision making and some wonderful play from us got us a swift equaliser. Then we were totally bossing the game and got the 2nd, again, with help from the goalkeeper (and the Valencia defender, he was in no man's land!). From that point onwards, though Valencia looked threatening, we defended fairly well and could and perhaps should have scored more.

They were clearly trying to settle for 2-1 in the second half, as they defended with a back 5 and their midfield was dropping deeper. Lacazette missed two superb chances to get a 3rd (or 4th) and I thought to myself "it's just not our night" (which sounds weird as we were winning, but we had a slender lead and our away record speaks for itself).
Valencia soaked up all our pressure and looked like they had a bit more energy in the final 15 minutes, but I actually think the introduction of Mkhitaryan helped us a lot. Though he is frustrating as hell, he is a fast dribbler who is willing to take their players on. After defending for most of the second half, the last thing their weary legs would have wanted was a fresh winger/AM with good acceleration running at them.

I was getting agitated that we didn't get at least a 3rd goal, but was slowly accepting that we would be taking a 2-1 lead to the Mestalla.
Then Kolasinac - whose delivery was diabolical ALL facking evening - produced an absolute peach of a cross for Aubameyang to get the vital third. And I cannot put into words the relief I felt . At long facking last.

The tie is by no means over, as all they need is a 2-0 win to progress (which isn't impossible to be honest), but if we can't get to the final now, taking a two-goal lead to Spain, then we don't deserve to reach the Final. The one good thing is that Valencia draw a lot of games and have struggled to score at home.

We're so close to reaching the final. Just one last push in Spain and then we've got a great chance!

I believe we can do it