Arsenal Vs Atletico Madrid: Europa League Preview

Gunners face a mammoth task against the Spanish giants Atletico as the battle between the favorites promises to be an amazing contest.

Arsenal will be facing off against Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Europa League semi-finals in Emirates stadium on Thursday. Arsenal has been disappointing this season as they have been poor in the domestic competitions. They are currently in 6th position in the English League, have crashed out of FA Cup and were thumped by the newly crowned Manchester City in the EFL cup. All of these definitely had a big impact on Arsenal's manager Arsene Wenger who recently announced that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season. The North London club have been impressive in the Europa League defeating AC Milan 5-1 in aggregate in the round of 16 and defeating CSKA Moscow 6-3 in aggregate in quarterfinals. Arsenal looked unconvincing in the second leg of the quarterfinals as they conceded 2 goals against the Russian side which looked like a comeback but Arsenal held their nerves to draw the score 2-2. The Gunners will be without Mkhitaryan, Elneny, Cazorla, and Kolasinac. Ozil, Ramsey, and Wilshere all returned for training in the squad and look a bit doubtful. Atletico, on the other hand, have been unconvincing recently with just a single win in five matches in all competitions. Atletico are currently 2nd in La Liga and are in danger of losing their place to arch-rivals Real Madrid who if win their game in hand will be only a point away from the RojiBalncos. Atletico cruised past Lokomotiv Moscow with a score of 8-1 in aggregate in the Round of 16 but in the quarterfinals, the story was very different. Atletico defeated Sporting 2-0 in the first leg in Wanda Metropolitano and it looked like Atletico would cruise through to the semis. A spirited performance from Sporting at the Estádio José Alvalade made sure that they fight back and so they did as they scored the first goal in the 2nd leg. They kept on producing many chances but couldn't find the finishing touch and Atletico went through to the semis. Both the clubs currently are in poor form and have been disappointing given their standards and will make sure that they do their best to go through to the finals of the competition.