predicted

Arsenal team news: How the Gunners could line-up against Valencia for their Europa League semi-final second leg

Unai Emery's side have a 3-1 advantage in the tie and go to Spain with a good chance of reaching the final

Arsenal have the slight advantage going into the second leg of their Europa League semi-final with Valencia on Thursday.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a late goal at the Emirates in the first leg to make it 3-1 after Alexandre Lacazette had scored twice in the first half.

The Gunners will have to be wary of the away goal Valencia possess as they know a 2-0 defeat will see them crash out.

As we have seen with this week’s Champions League matches, three goal leads have not even been enough of a cushion.

Unai Emery’s side know that their only realistic chance of getting into the Champions League is by winning this competition.

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They have been shambolic away from home for large parts of the season, with some particularly questionable results in the Europa League.

Arsenal have already been beaten by Rennes and BATE Borisov and know they will need to rectify this to progress to the final in Baku.

So, how will Arsenal line-up? We've predicted their XI below.

In defence, Emery should be able to revert to a back-five with Ainsley Maitland-Niles able to return following his domestic suspension.

He will come in for Stephan Lichtsteiner while Laurent Koscielny is likely to be fit for the trip to the Mestalla.

In midfield, Emery will have to choose between Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira to partner Granit Xhaka in the middle.

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Guendouzi started the first leg at the Emirates while Torreira replaced him in their match at Brighton on Saturday.

Lacazette and Aubameyang are in fine form up front with the latter netting four times in his last six games.

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