Arsenal 3-1 Valencia: 5 Talking Points
Unai Emery carefully planned a huge show at the Emirates as Arsenal look to prevent history from repeating itself. Last season, the Gunners drew 1-1 at home in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final clash against Atletico Madrid. It was a disappointing result for the Gunners because they failed to win the game and even conceded an away goal.
This time around, Emery was sure that he would be different from Arsene Wenger. He did not want his side to face such a scenario, he wanted his side to finish the game with a victory in their hands. His dreams came true.
Despite conceding the first goal, Alexandre Lacazette scored twice to put the home side in front by the end of the first half. In the latter 45 minutes, the Gunners had plenty of chances to increase their lead but failed to capitalize on their chances. Ultimately, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang did just enough in the closing stages of the match to make it 3-1 for Arsenal. The pressure is now on Valencia to try to turn the tie around. Here is a look at five talking points from the game.
#5 Valencia's defensive style
Arsenal are the second team to make Valencia concede three goals this season with Atletico Madrid doing it exactly a week ago. On most occasions, Valencia's defense has conceded just one goal or they kept a clean sheet. At the Emirates, it could have been worse for their backline but Arsenal did not score more than three.
As expected, Arsenal dominated possession. For a long period of time, they failed to find the penetrating pass which could split Valencia's defense. However, when Henrikh Mkhitaryan was brought on for Mesut Ozil, the pair of fresh legs inserted a new found energy on the pitch. Mkhitaryan got things going quicker and Sead Kolasinac created all sorts of trouble in the final third.
It seemed as if Los Che were having problems coping with Arsenal's attacking style as they sat deep and they struggled to break on the counter too. Perhaps, Marcelino had opted to defend in the first leg and go all out to attack in the return leg. However, whatever his tactics were, the visitors clearly had difficulties creating chances for themselves, especially in the second half.