Arsenal’s hopes of playing Champions League football next season solely on winning the Europa League. The Gunners were in pole position for a top 4 finish but absolutely blew their chances when they lost 3 games in a row in the league meaning that the highest they can finish is 5th heading into the last round of fixtures.
Unai Emery’s men are 90 minutes away from the Europa League final. They take a 3-1 lead to Valencia on Thursday with full knowledge that there can be no room for error or complacency. Laurent Koscielny is expected to back after sitting out the Brighton draw while Aaron Ramsey’s hamstring injury rules him out of the match.
Arsenal is in dreadful form at the moment and has lost 4 of their last five matches while Valencia found the net six times in their last match against Huesca in La Liga. Unai Emery knows that this is his only chance at achieving Arsenal’s main objective at the start of the season which is a qualification to next years elite competition.
He will take heart from the fact that he is the most successful manager in the competition having won the trophy 3 times in a row with Sevilla. However, his team’s away from has been not up to scratch this season and has seen them lose to BATE Borislov and Rennes in the early knockout stages of the competition.
It is a do or die clash for the Gunners who cannot afford another season in the Europa League for obvious reasons. Unai Emery was hired because he is a Europa League specialist, Thursday is the perfect opportunity for him to prove his credentials and steer Arsenal out of the hole Arsene Wenger left them in.