Arsenal vs Atletico Madrid. UEFA Europa League Semi-Final.
Emirates StadiumAttendance59,066.
Thursday 26 April 2018 19:31, UK
Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal's Europa League semi-final first leg at home to Atletico Madrid on Thursday (kick-off 8.05pm) is like a "Champions League night" for the club.
Arsenal will qualify for next season's Champions League if they win the competition, but the Spanish side, tough to beat over two legs in previous seasons, stand in their way.
Much discussion in build-up to the match surrounds Wenger's departure in the summer and the candidates to be his successor, but in his pre-match press conference, the Frenchman attempted to keep focus on the job in hand.
"It is a Champions League night. A Champions League place is at stake, for us. These are two teams that are used to be playing in the Champions League.
"We need to get a positive result, it won't be over after tomorrow. They have no real weak point, they are strong defensively, they are strong offensively, we need a complete performance."
Mesut Ozil, Petr Cech and Jack Wilshere all trained on Wednesday ahead of Thursday's clash. The trio, as well as full-back Sead Kolasinac, missed Sunday's 4-1 Premier League win over West Ham with minor complaints, but all were part of the squad working at London Colney.
Ozil was ill, while Cech had a minor hip injury as Wilshere and Kolasinac were sidelined with ankle problems.
Mohamed Elneny was carried off on a stretcher on the stroke of half-time with ankle ligament damage, although Arsenal are hopeful he will play again this season.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan is also absent, but could feature in the second leg in Madrid next week, having trained away from the group on Wednesday.
The news will be a boost to outgoing Arsenal boss Wenger as he looks to end his near-22 year tenure with a European trophy, especially as Atletico themselves were given good news as former Chelsea forward Diego Costa was passed fit to travel to London following a hamstring injury.
Atletico full backs Filipe Luis and Juanfran will be missing, however.
Arsenal finally made the breakthrough announcement they needed, with Arsene Wenger confirming his departure at the end of the season, but I don't think the Gunners were overly impressive at the weekend.
I thought it was a really strange selection not starting Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Alexandre Lacazette has found himself some scoring form but he's probably still thinking he wishes his move to Atletico Madrid had gone through in the summer.
Atletico are heavy favourites for me with their defensive strength and Arsenal's backline constantly making me nervous. How Shkodran Mustafi is still in the team is beyond me, but the competition isn't really there.
There's not much between these two sides other than their defences and I can see Arsenal scoring a couple of times at the Emirates Stadium, but my concern is keeping that concentration to prevent Atletico snatching a vital away goal.
Charlie predicts: 2-1 and Lacazette to score first (25/1 with Sky Bet)