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Many believed that Arsenal had an excellent chance to snap their first European title since 1994. They hammered a strong Valencia side with convincing 7 goals at the Europa League semifinals, and they had Unai Emery who is known as the specialist in winning the competition.
The Gunners also won their latest meeting against Chelsea in the Premier League, where they scores 2 goals and kept a clean sheet in the process. However, Arsenal's lingering defensive problems stung Unai Emery once again in Baku, as the North London side started to collapse in the second half.
Emery immediately reacted to Chelsea's goal after noticing that Arsenal needed to score to make up for their defensive woes. His changes seemed on point, as Joe Willock, Alex Iwobi, and Matteo Guendouzi all made positive impacts for the team. However, his effort was too late and eventually went in vain.
Here we will take a look at 3 flops who let Unai Emery down.
#1 Laurent Koscielny
Many Arsenal fans relieved after noticing that Emery left Shkodran Mustafi on the bench in this important game. The Gunners captain Laurent Koscielny started ahead of the heavily-criticized German following Mustafi's numerous defensive errors.
The 33-year-old played alongside Sokratis Papasthopoulos and Nacho Monreal in the team's 3-centerbacks formation, tasked on guarding Olivier Giroud. Emery's decision seemed reasonable as Koscielny started in most of Arsenal's Europa League games, playing a total of 840 minutes at the competition and looked more solid than Mustafi.
However, he seemed to emulate the former Valencia player's woeful defending this time, as he was directly at fault over several of Chelsea's goals. He often struggled to catch up with the Blues' pace and was caught in the wrong position at occasions.
He failed to mark Giroud properly in the second half, which led to Chelsea's first goal. He could also do a lot more to prevent the Blues' second and fourth goal. Had Petr Cech not performed at his best, Arsenal would have suffered more.
#2 Ainsley Maitland-Niles
The English starlet had done well at Arsenal's right-hand side throughout Hector Bellerin's absence. His excellent dribbling and solid defensive contribution have stolen Emery's trust, as the 21-year-old started ahead of veteran defender Stephan Lichtsteiner most times.
Emery gave him a very challenging task at this game, deploying the Englishman head-to-head against Chelsea megastar Eden Hazard. The Arsenal academy product, however, did the job well for the first half of the match. He left the Belgian with only a little space to play and helped the Gunner's attack with several dangerous crosses.
Unfortunately, he started to crumble at the second half, as most of Chelsea's goals were coming from Arsenal's right flank. He was nowhere near Emerson and Hazard when both Chelsea players were involved in the Blues's first and second goal respectively. His clumsy challenge also led to Hazard's penalty at the 65th minute.
Ainsley might have enormous talent and would play an essential role for the Gunners in the future. However, this match has proven that he is not yet ready to become Emery's regular at the moment.
#3 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
No one can doubt the Gabonese's contribution for Arsenal. He has been an enormous success for the Premier League side since arriving from Dortmund for a colossal €63.8 million in 2018. He made an instant impact for the Gunners in his debut season at the English top division, scoring 10 goals from 13 league appearances.
He has continued his goalscoring frenzy, as he has won the Golden Boot alongside Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane this term. Many also believed that Aubameyang would play a defining role in the Europa League final due to he has scored 8 goals at the competition. Sadly, he flopped just at Arsenal's most important game of the season.
Aubameyang was wasteful for most occasions, as his 4 shots were all off target. He also seemed isolated and struggling to get past David Luiz. His teammates were able to provide him with a golden chance to score several times, but he ruined it in the end. His failed overhead kick attempt became an embarrassing spotlight and summed up his woeful display.
