Chelsea vs Eintracht Frankfurt and Valencia vs Arsenal in the Europa League on Thursday
Thursday 9 May 2019 18:15, UK
After Liverpool and Tottenham made it an all-English Champions League final, will Arsenal and Chelsea do the same in the Europa League? Charlie Nicholas gives his verdict...
Here's how the former Arsenal and Scotland star sees the remaining European semi-final second-leg ties going...
Europa League
Sometimes they are not my beloved Arsenal. They are my angry Arsenal at the moment!
This is a tremendous advantage that Arsenal have right now. Valencia have never been a team that score a lot of goals, but they do not let them in, which was completely blown out of the water at the Emirates.
With that away goal, it scares me. I am on edge again here because I don't know how Unai Emery goes about setting up his defence here.
The only way I can see Arsenal getting through this is if they go with a back five. Two will protect in the middle, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette should start up front. It doesn't matter who plays next weekend, so get those two in the team. I don't understand why he keeps picking Henrikh Mkhitaryan. What has happened to him?
I hope Lacazette gets us through again.
CHARLIE PREDICTS: Valencia 2-1 Arsenal - 15/2 with Sky Bet
Maurizio Sarri has made the top four with Chelsea, but he has never won a trophy. I was a bit disappointed with Frankfurt in the first leg, but they never played overly defensive.
They had Chelsea on their heels for 30 minutes. Maybe the tension will ease off as they have nothing to lose. It will be tighter than most people will be hoping for. Surely he will play Eden Hazard - it isn't as though he is exhausted or has injury worries. I think he will play and make the difference here.
CHARLIE PREDICTS: Chelsea 2-1 Frankfurt - 15/2 with Sky Bet
CHARLIE PREDICTED: Liverpool 1-2 Barcelona (Agg: 1-5)
RESULT: 4-0 (Agg: 4-3)
CHARLIE PREDICTED: Ajax 1-1 Tottenham (Agg: 2-1)
RESULT: 2-3 (Agg: 3-3, Spurs through on away goals)
