Europa League Double Whammy

According to Maurizio Sarri, Chelsea’s defence is in “trouble”, which, frankly, is music to the ears of a Frankfurt side again riding high, fourth in the Bundesliga after reaching a European semi-final for the first time since 1980. At the heart of Chelsea’s problems is a dearth of available centre-backs; Antonio Rüdiger has been ruled out for the season after undergoing knee surgery, while Gary Cahill is absent with an achilles problem. David Luiz and Andreas Christensen are set to start in the centre of defence, while César Azpilicueta has trained there “just in case”. If only Sarri could call on Branislav Ivanovic, the hero when Chelsea last lifted the Europa League trophy six years ago in Amsterdam. Sarri, though, has made it clear his team is prioritising a top-four finish in the Premier League over winning this competition, in which Ivanovic snatched victory after Fernando Torres opened the scoring in 2013.

But if Chelsea, who drew at Old Trafford on Sunday and are yet to taste defeat in the Europa League this season – record victory then they will fancy their chances of reaching another final. Frankfurt are also missing key personnel – the forwards Sébastian Haller and Ante Rebić through injury and suspension respectively – but head coach Adi Hütter can at least call on Luka Jovic, one of the hottest strikers on the continent. “Most of our players are playing their first European season,” Hütter said. “But we’ve been brave and deserve to be here. On a special day, we can hurt even a special opponent.”

This has been, by any standard, a bit of a weird season for Arsenal. At various points it’s looked absolutely calamitous, not least now after three straight defeats to teams they would like to think they should beat. But despite all this they’re still two points off the top four and are here, now, in a Europa League semi-final. Given the honking hospital pass handed to Unai Emery, having to replace a legend with a squad you could probably best describe as ‘lop-sided’, that’s actually a pretty solid return.

Making it into that top four and beyond the semi-final though: then we’re getting into the realms of success. Success, despite significant flaws in the team that you suspect will take some time to correct.

Perhaps this season will (temporarily) redefine what Arsenal think of as success. They’re not used to being in this competition, having been Champions League regulars for so long, but winning it in such circumstances would be a pretty nifty achievement.

First, though, Valencia. Arsenal will need a win tonight, preferably a healthy one, to go into the second leg with any sort of confidence, given how woeful their away record is. Will that mean they’ll go for all-out attack from the off? We can but hope.