Arsenal – Atletico Madrid

Arsenal and Atletico Madrid face each other in a first 1/2-final from the UEFA Europa League at the Emirates Stadium in London. Let’s have a look at what these two teams can offer tonight.

Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger shall pick his titular number one Petr Cech to be on goal. In front of him we expect to see Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Coscielny in central defense, while Nacho Monreal and Hector Bellerin shall start on the two flanks.

Against Atletico Madrid Wenger is going to need some serious creative force in his midfields. That’s why we expect to see the midfield trio Granit Xhaka – Jack Wilshere – Aaron Ramsey. If Wenger keeps his line-up from the matches against CSKA Moscow in the previous round, in attack we should see Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alexandre Lacazette. The Frenchman is going to lead the forward line, while the two masters of the assists Mesut Ozil and Henrikh Mkhitaryan shall provide him with useful balls in front of Atletico’s goal.

How will Atletico Madrid line-up against Arsenal?

On the goal we shall see the titular number one Jan Oblak, of course. In front of him in defense most likely Simeone is going to pick Diego Godin, Stefan Savic, Juanfran and Lucas Hernandez. These four defenders know very well how to work together, so this is Simeone’s sure bet in this case. In midfield in his 4-4-2 scheme we shall see Koke, Saul Niguez, Gabi and Vitolo. In attack things are looking impressive and Arsenal shall watch out for the deadly duo Antoine Griezmann – Diego Costa.

This is a battle of two different philosophies. Arsenal loves the attacking style of football, while under Simeone Atletico are pragmatic than ever. They would like to defend well and use their chances on counter attack.