The past two days has been absolute mental as we saw a change in European football’s landscape. With focus now shifting to the lesser continental competition I think there may be added pressure on both London sides to make it an all English affair in Baku.
Good day one and all.
Arsenal is in Spain this evening to take on Valencia at the Mestalla, with high hopes of booking themselves a place in this season’s Europa League final, to potentially be one win away from Europe’s promised land of Champions League football next season.
The Gunners hold a 3-1 lead from the 1st leg but whether that is “healthy” remains to be seen, given that the Spanish side come into this game on the back of six goals scored in their La Liga game over the weekend. That, along with the CL events, will give them a measure of confidence that they can overturn this tie to progress through to the final.
Recent weeks… mehn, joyless for Arsenal. Despite wins away to Napoli and Valencia at the Emirates, we were winless in five of our last six Premier League matches, looking tired as Brighton came back from a goal down to drew at the Ems. Not exactly to sort of momentum to carry into such a crucial encounter.
But this right here tonight, offers us a chance at getting our one shot at silverware as well as redemption following a miserable domestic season that had so much promise. Ergo it’s vital we throw caution to the wind on top of staying switched on throughout to defend our 2-goal cushion.
It was at this stage of the competition last season that we fell away; losing to Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano after drawing 1-1 in the 1st leg at the Emirates. So for Unai Emery to ensure we get the job done he has to draw from his own Europa experiences, having won it three times on the bounce with Sevilla.
We shouldn’t turn up expecting to defend a 2-goal lead. Part of our struggles in recent weeks has been our defense, even in games we didn’t lose the opposition weren’t short of goal scoring chances. Making our best hope at advancing our strike force. At the start of the season when we were dopey at the back it was them that got us out of tricky situations and tonight we need them on the frontfoot.
Do it Emery. Take off the trailer!
These two sides met three times before at the Mestalla and all three meetings ended in wins for the home side. So no doubt they will give it ‘a go’ tonight hoping to repeat history in front of their home crowd, but…
Would it be enough if the Gunners get an away goal?
@LaboGoon
**
Positively Arsenal 
Congratulations Emery and the boys. Apart from the first few minutes, an absolute masterclass.
Needed that this week
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Ha, and i thought Auba was playing great at half time. Utterly fantastic performance.
Space, if only we could have space (and protection from hacks and thumps) in prem. He and Laca would rip it up.
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Who’d we want then. gotta be Frankfurt yes. Don’t know much about them apart from mega striker, and wouldn’t take them easy, but got to be them.
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Would be much more fun beating Chelsea of course, but I’m too chickenshit to risk other result vs them. Not that I have a say obviously.
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Hartson just keown “shut up im talking” keown promptly shits himself and shuts up wonderful
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other semi gone to penalties
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Auba’s second beating Gabriel at the best post was one highlight. Hoping to see a few more of those near post finishes in times to come and the other two finishes were also memorable alongside Lacazette’s effort. The front three showing their quality in both legs of this tie.
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I see Aubameyang and Lacazette have “bailed us out” once again! I’m well chuffed as I admit I was worried that we would mess this one up and I could not take that on top of the CL results!
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Annoying, Chelsea through, despite missing an earlier penalty.
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its cfc in the final, they had missed their second penalty, but frankfurt missed their last two to go out
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Annoying, Chelsea through, despite missing an earlier penalty.
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So it’s battle against the Night’s King zombie horde once again. Might have to face up against the resurrected undead Giroud this time but the Gunners still have two dragons left in the armoury.
Sorry i can’t help it. The resemblance to the script is uncanny. We all thought it was going to be Ramsey but nope it’s going to be Torreira or AMN to score the winner in the final?
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“It’s coming home, it’s coming home, football is coming home”
Or something like that.
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the nightmare euro final results are still possible, but so are an Arsenal and Liverpool win
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17-year-old Arsenal academy goalkeeper Karl Hein has signed his first professional contract with the club
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So will Mkhitaryan be able to go to the Final in Azerbaijan
There are no diplomatic relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, largely due to the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The neighboring nations had formal governmental relations between 1918 and 1921, during their brief independence from the collapsed Russian Empire, as the First Republic of Armenia and the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan; these relations existed from the period after the Russian Revolution until they were occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union. Due to the two wars waged by the countries in the past century—one from 1918 to 1921 and another from 1988 to 1994—the two have had strained relations.
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David
@Melkyor_Arsenal
2h2 hours ago
Emery played only with 9 Arsene players to qualify for the Final. What a mess you left Arsene, what a mess…
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if Arsenal win the EL it would mean Man utd the only one of the top 6 who would not be in the CL next season
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Can’t understand why anyone would have worried tonight. Never in doubt.
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Andrew Allen
@AAllenSport
Arsenal (and presumably also Chelsea) have been allocated 6,000 tickets for the Europa League final in Baku. The stadium holds just shy of 69,000. Nice one UEFA
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some reports in France in last day or so is that Edu will not be the only invincible to get a job at Arsenal this summer, they say that Robert Pires will finally get added to the staff at Arsenal, but not on the coaching role, more on the same side of things as what Edu will be doing
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Well, result has meant can indulge normal habits and read a bit of arsenal/football news
Still being linked with Bailly. So against the idea. Has talent but seems very rash to me, and we do not need rash. Will also be more heavily penalised for fouls with us than Utd and, most importantly, seems hugely injury prone. So…no,no,no
More promising link is to Madrid midfielder Lorrente. Played very few games for a 24 year old, but that can be Madrid for you. Got a feeling he was in a Spain u21 at Euros side with Hector and really shone.
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well Rich if not Bailly then maybe it will be the great umitti who can’t get in the rock solid Barcelona defense
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Not sure what’s up with Umtiti Ed. I’d assumed lot of injury problems.
Thing is, Lenglet really caught eye (Sevilla?) last year and think he may have been generally good this year. Pique been an excellent defender and may still be. Talk of De Ligt as well.
Not sure it was at cb it went tits up for them, though I wasn’t capable of much analysis as it went down.
That said, far as i could tell it was more of a legs thing. Messi and Suarez only looked likely to hurt them in final third but they couldn’t get them or the ball there enough. Pretty sure if watched again there still were moments of real class from Busquets and maybe others in dealing with pressing, but not enough to allow them to settle or build, or drain energy from Pool. Anyway, that’s done
I’d be extremely pleased and nervous (because of injury worry) with Umtiti. Not sure of chances though. Meanwhile still hoping as ever we get a tall good un.
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All this season has proved to me is that if sides are allowed to foul at will Arsenal struggle to play, especially away from home, but if games are refereed properly then Arsenal remain a pretty decent side.
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I work with a really decent fellow, an Irishman who is a long-standing and long-sufferng Liverpool fan. He also has a soft spot for the Arsenal, having worked in a North London school for a while, and because of that irish connection I guess. He wrote me this email late last night:
“I stand by my prediction. Arsenal will win the Europa league, buy 2 or 3 great players over the summer and be a force again next season.
Watching both games last night, I think Chelsea are the better opposition for you. They were very poor last night and lucky to go through. You will beat them in the final.
What a season. What a time to be alive.”
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foreverheady
100% with you on 08.33 post. Feeling through last 4 Europa games has been one of ‘This is more like what i’d expect with squad/team we have. Vulnerabilities there, in defence especially, but plenty of strengths, too’
I only see one other avenue of explanation for it (the Great Discrepancy) : perhaps because of their domestic leagues and size/ambitions within them…neither Napoli or Valencia were bus parkers.
I’ve seen something similar with other European teams visiting us in recent years, Galatasaray a notable one, where it has been a welcome change to see a side allow us the chance to break into space, etc, but at the same time a part of me has been thinking ‘don’t you guys watch the prem?’
That is, unless you are the very best of teams (and they were the ones who tended to knock us out of Europe), your best bet is to sit against us, pack defence, and look to break, or that’s what the premier league firmly suggests at least.
Personally don’t believe that or any other explanation of why the prem is different/legitimately tougher can even nearly account for the discrepancy though. The difference is too great.
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Foreverheady
Another of my posts done a disappearing act but just want to say how much I agree about your 08.33 post.
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-7014099/De-Ligts-Barcelona-delayed-Mino-Raiola-wants-20-cent.html
Really don’t understand it. And yet so many things to suggest in recent years it could be true.
Ajax, Barca and player want it, deal supposedly agreed, but it can be held up by Raiola wanting more for himself and hoping another club will provide it.
Can’t possibly be a legal entitlement for him…so it is supposedly case that De Ligt, though allegedly wanting that move, is willing to hang on while Raiola tries to get his money?
I loathe it and genuinely can’t wrap my head around it. Why do players with world at feet even want to get involved with an operator like that?
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well Rich I presume that players sign up with these super agents cos they get them the big buck ontracts, the get them the moves to the big teams, they get managers sacked when the player is out of the team, they get managers who like the player hired,
i do laugh that in the same week as the redtops and bloggers are putting out articles about Arsenal having a very low transfer budget this summer, they same idiots are running articles about how under Raul, Arsenal are now willing, nay keen, to work with all these super agents, in fact the proposed deal to bring in Edu as a director is said to have been done by one of these super agents.
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Rich I would also say that Raiola probably will have a legal right to do what he is doing, whatever sort of contract he has with the player will have all this tied up
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New post is up
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well Arsenal have reached their 6th European Final in their History, looking for a 3rd win, and yet some, oddly those that hate him, can’t stop talking about a manger who left a year ago, its very odd behavior
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