Arsenal boss Arteta: ‘we have a chance to win the tie, that’s for sure’ 

Europa League Semi-Final First Leg

VILLARREAL 2 (Trigueros 5, Albiol 29, Capoue sent off 80)
ARSENAL 1 (Ceballos sent off 57, Pepe 73 pen)

UNAI Emery must look across at the opposing dugout and wonder what mysterious charm his counterpart possesses.

For getting better results over the same period of time, Emery’s reward was being shown the exit door at the Emirates with barely a “thanks for trying” from anyone connected to Arsenal Football Club.

Yet, there is little talk of golden handshakes or P45s for his successor Mikel Arteta – no matter how bad things seem to get.

In the biggest game of Arsenal’s season tonight (Thursday) Arteta turned to the trusted false nine tactic, playing without a striker in the hope that Nicolas Pepe and Bukayo Saka would supply the goals.

But taking to the pitch without a recognised forward simply added a more chaotic feel to the Arsenal attack – one more akin to a lunchtime kick-a-bout in the school playground.

Believers in Arteta’s aimless approach will point to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s struggle with malaria and Alexandre Lacazette’s absence through injury.

Perhaps, then, Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah and Folarin Balogun are deemed so poor that the option of playing without a striker seemed like the only choice.

“In the first half, there were so many moments that we weren’t us,” explained Arteta. “We weren’t clear with our high press, we were disorganised, we were not precise with the ball and we didn’t have enough control.

“We didn’t have enough threat or desire to attack the box but in the second half it was completely different.”

A chopping-and-changing approach to match days will do that to a team. As will not having a recognised forward on the pitch.

The defence, too, feels the pressure of not having someone up front capable of holding the ball up. That strong presence that makes rival defenders think, and then have to think again.

Arteta’s false nine approach to the game was as much to blame for the goal Arsenal conceded after just five minutes as the decision to again play Granit Xhaka at left-back.

On-loan Tottenham centre-back Juan Foyth was given the freedom of the pitch to gallop into, before picking out Samuel Chukwueze, who couldn’t help but take advantage of Xhaka’s dithering and backtracking.

The ball broke inside the area and coming on to it like a steam train was Manu Trigueros to lash a low, right-footed effort into the bottom corner with the first shot of the game.

Emery’s roars of approval could be heard echoing around the El Madrigal. He was never not going to celebrate a goal against his former side.

It might be a stretch to blame Arsenal’s lack of a commanding striker for the second goal they gave away. But Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin at Everton are two prime examples of how important it can be to have somebody – anybody – in the box who knows how to win headers.

On the half-hour mark the Gunners displayed the kind of shambolic defending that left you wondering how they have made it to the Europa League semi-finals in the first place.

The Arsenal players watched on as an in-swinging corner was flicked on by Gerard Moreno to Villarreal captain Raul Albiol, who was waiting at the back stick to tap home from close range.

“Highway to Hell” boomed over the PA system during the celebrations, as much a tribute to the direction Arsenal were heading in as the two-goal advantage the hosts now had.

The Gunners thought that they had been handed a lifeline before the break when Foyth brought down Pepe in the box for a penalty, but VAR quickly intervened with replays showing that the ball had accidentally brushed Pepe’s arm in the build up.

Any hopes of a second half revival seemed well and truly over on the hour-mark when Dani Ceballos was dismissed for a second bookable offence.

But, to their credit, Arsenal continued to search for the all-important away goal that was so desperately needed if this Thursday’s second leg at the Emirates was to be worth playing.

And on 73 minutes they found it when Saka was tripped by Trigueros in the box, with Pepe just about squeezing home the resulting penalty.

Villarreal then joined Arsenal on 10-men when former Spurs and Watford midfielder Etienne Capoue went in late on Saka to earn his second yellow card.

The Gunners couldn’t quite take advantage and find the equaliser, but, all things considered, they will be happy that they still have something to play for in the home leg.

“The away goal gives us belief that if we do the right things and we play at our level, we can beat them,” insisted Arteta. “I’m disappointed that we lost the game obviously. The fact that we conceded really early in the game affected us.

“We lost our organisation, we were really stretched and there were big differences between the lines that we could not join together with the ball.”

Mixed in to Arteta’s summary was four understated words that sums up Arsenal’s season pretty nicely.

“We had some issues,” he added. No kidding…

Villarreal: Rulli, Foyth (Gaspar, 70), Albiol, Torres, Pedraza (A Moreno, 80), Parejo, Capoue, Trigueros (Gomez), Chukwueze, Alcacer (Coquelin, 45), G Moreno
Substitutes not used: Asenjo, Mori, Bacca, Estupinan, Costa, Yeremy, Alex, Nino

Arsenal: Leno, Chambers, Holding, Mari, Xhaka, Partey, Ceballos, Saka (Aubameyang, 85), Odegaard (Martinelli, 63), Smith Rowe (Elneny, 90+5), Pepe (Willian, 90+5)
Substitutes not used: Ryan, Okonkwo, Bellerin, Gabriel, Luiz, Cedric, Nelson, Nketiah