Europa League: Arsenal see off Valencia in style, Chelsea draw @ Frankfurt

 

• FT: Arsenal 3-1 Valencia
  
• Diakhaby heads in from corner (11)
• Lacazette levels on counter (18)
• Lacazette nods Gunners ahead (26)
• Aubameyang adds late third (90)
• Ozil in as one of three changes
• Valencia drop four from weekend loss
• Europa League semi-final first leg
• Return leg on Thursday, May 9
• Winner plays Frankfurt or Chelsea in final

Arsenal have one foot in the Europa League final after an excellent comeback from an early horror show at the Emirates, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s late third giving them a two-goal advantage to take to Spain for the second leg with Valencia.

It took until the final minute for Arsenal to get the third goal they wanted, but even 2-1 would have been a good scoreline given the Spanish side’s early dominance and opening goal. After a leveller out of nothing though, the hosts were in control and there are some big cheers at the Emirates at full-time.

 

VALENCIA TEAM NEWS

Valencia team to play Arsenal: Neto, Piccini, Garay, Gabriel, Diakhaby, Gaya, Soler, Parejo, Roncaglia, Guedes, Rodrigo.

Subs: Domenech, Lato, Wass, Santi Mina, Ruben Sobrino, Torres, Gameiro.

ARSENAL TEAM NEWS

Arsenal team to play Valencia: Cech, Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Sokratis, Koscielny, Kolasinac, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette.

Subs: Leno, Monreal, Torreira, Elneny, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Nketiah.

 

 

• FT: Frankfurt 1-1 Chelsea
  
• Jovic heads home opener (23)
• Two Frankfurt changes
• Hazard on bench in five changes
• Europa League semi-final first leg
• Return leg on Thursday, May 9

Pedro scored a vital away goal for Chelsea in their Europa League semi-final first leg 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt.

There was a raucous atmosphere ahead of kick-off and the home fans were rewarded when Luka Jovic headed home in the 23rd minute.

But Chelsea soon found their rhythm and Pedro made it count with the equaliser – and an away goal – as he fired home on the stroke of half-time.

Chelsea should have added another in the second half, with David Luiz hitting the crossbar with a free-kick, but the tie remains finely-poised for next Thursday’s second leg at Stamford Bridge.

 

 

Frankfurt: Trapp, Hinteregger, Abraham, Hasebe, Falette, Fernandes, Rode, Da Costa, Jovic, Kostic, Gacinovic.

Subs: Ronnow, Ndicka, De Guzman, Willems, Torro, Chandler, Paciencia.

Chelsea: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Christensen, Emerson, Kante, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek, Willian, Giroud, Pedro.

Subs: Caballero, Zappacosta, Alondo, Kovacic, Barkley, Hazard, Higuain.

 

DID YOU KNOW?…

• This is Eintracht Frankfurt’s first European semi-final since 1979/80, when they ultimately won the UEFA Cup after defeating Bayern Munich and Borussia Mönchengladbach in the semi-finals and finals respectively.
• This will be Chelsea’s ninth major European semi-final appearance in the Abramovich era (since 2003/04); no club has appeared in more since then (Barcelona also nine).
• These two sides have never previously faced off; Eintracht have lost at home to English opposition just once before in all European competitions – 0-1 vs Nottingham Forest in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1967/68.