Arsenal predicted XI v. Villarreal: Gunners handed major boost as star returns

Forum 2 years ago

Arsenal predicted XI v. Villarreal: Gunners handed major boost as star returns

Arsenal are up against Villarreal in their Europa League semi-final second leg tonight and have to overturn a 2-1 deficit.

The Gunners are down but not out and a solid performance at the Emirates will see them into the final, where they’ll likely join Premier League rivals Manchester United.

Mikel Arteta could be handed a significant boost by the potential return of Kieran Tierney, who was a notable absence in the first leg.

Granit Xhaka was elected to stand in for the full-back, but the Scot coming back into the side would allow the midfielder to assume his typical position alongside Thomas Partey.

Here’s how we see Arsenal lining up…

In goal will be Bernd Leno, and he’ll have a back four of Pablo Mari, Rob Holding, Calum Chambers and Tierney. David Luiz looks set to miss out after picking up an injury against Newcastle United.

A deep-lying midfield duo of Partey and Xhaka seems nailed-on – if Tierney does indeed return – with Martin Odegaard, Nicolas Pepe and Bukayo Saka playing ahead of them, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as the central attacker.

Our XI: Leno, Mari, Holding, Chambers, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Odegaard, Pepe, Saka, Aubameyang