I want to believe that Arsenal will put in a big performance to go to the final. The players need to have the right mentality going into this game. No excuses will be entertained only a win is acceptable. I do believe that we have enough quality to cause Villarreal problems. As Arteta has stated, this is a big game for everyone, most importantly the club. This club deserve to be in Europe and that should be the task at hand.

As far as Arteta’s job is concerned, I’m not one of those who will use this as an indication of what will happen to him, I think the board and executive team are well aware of what is going on and what has happen at the club before Arteta’s arrival and how they want to fix it. I will therefore not get into the pressure that will become if we do not go through to the final. There’s a bigger fish to fry and that lies with the problems on and off the pitch.

The right team selection will win us this game. We have everybody back fit and ready for selection. But there’s concerns around Lacazette, Tierney and Luiz. I want to believe that they are fine to put in at least 60 minutes each. Its Arteta’s job to make sure he pick the right players and do the right substitutions at the right time to avoid what happened earlier in the season with Partey and what happened last week with Luiz. With that said lets get int the lineup prediction.

STARTING 11

Goalkeeper:
Matt Ryan had a very comfortable game last week against Newscastle. He did everything right and it’s a shame that he will not be playing this game. Bernd Leno comes back in he’s our number one and is the reason why we are still in the tie.

Defence:
I really love to see Cedric play because he’s a natural right back but I know for a fact that Arteta will play Chambers. Cedric can slow down their attack on the wing as he can push them back and overlap with the winger and has the pace to recover when out of possession. If Luiz is not 100% ready to start this game I will play Chambers as the right side centerback partnering Gabriel. And if Tierney is not fit I will go with Saka. But I do believe that both are fit to start.

Midfield:
We need to restore our midfield partnership of Partey and Xhaka. Its very big game and with Ceballos out we cant risk to play Elneny from the start. It will go down to what happens at left back, as I said above if Tierney is not ready then we play Saka to allow Xhaka to get back into midfield. In the number 10 role, I will go with Odegaard. I know Smith Rowe has been putting in good performances but I will reserve his energy to come off the bench and make a bigger impact. Odegaard has a little bit game to him more than just energy he can control the game and can be very important in playing the final ball through.

Attack:
Its a headache to think of who to start. If Tierney is not ready Saka has to fill in at left back and open up space for Martinelli. But I predict he will start at right wing. Pepe is our talisman in this competition and he should start at left wing. Aubameyang scored a very important goal for his confidence to start this game ahead of Lacazette who’s been very brilliant before picking up injury.

Subs:
Martinelli will have to play some part of this game he’s on great form and should have enough to start in the weekend. Smith Rowe is also one that will be important to come in from the bench. And finally Lacazette will have a run out as well. He should be starting this if he played some minutes last week but maybe it will be too much for him and we have Aubameyang ready.