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At this moment, nothing seems to be going right for the teams battling for a top four finish in the English Premier League, Arsenal inclusive. For the first time in Unai Emery's management, the Gunners have lost three games in a row in the EPL. This comes after advancing into the semi-finals of the Europa League back in mid April.
Valencia too are not having an extremely good run as they have lost two consecutive LaLiga fixtures at the hands of Atletico Madrid and Eibar. The Spanish club will travel to the Emirates stadium for the first leg of the semi-finals clash.
Prior to their loss to Crystal Palace, Emery's men had not lost at home since the turn of the year. The Emirates is also the place where the Gunners have managed to turn around the fixtures against Bate Borisov and Rennes.
However, things are currently looking unfavourable for the Gunners. As much as they remain favourites to advance to the finals of the competition, the North London club could well lose this home match against Valencia. Here is a look at three reasons why they might lose.
#3 Head to head records
The last time both sides met was back in 2003, where the Gunners lost 2-1. Valencia have faced Arsenal a total of five times, winning thrice during the meetings. Arsenal have won just once and that happened in 2001. It has been more than a decade since both clubs met and many things have changed.
Some might say that as the former manager of Valencia, Emery should know the club inside out. However, it has been close to seven years since his departure from the Spanish club, and one can no longer trust that Emery knows the tactics to beating them.
In Emery's 11 matches against Valencia, he has won slightly more than half of them (5). At the same time, Valencia dropped into the Europa League following their third-placed finish in the UCL this season and are yet to lose a match in the competition.
With these records, history might repeat itself and see Arsenal lose to Valencia once again.
#2 Injuries to first team players
Aaron Ramsey has been a particularly influential player for Arsenal this season, especially in the Europa League. Since his injury in the second-leg of the quarter-finals clash against Napoli, Arsenal have not won a game. His absence from the team means that Emery lacks a player who is capable of changing the dynamics of the game.
Besides that, Denis Suarez, who was once expected to be Ramsey's long-term replacement, has ruled himself out for the rest of the season. The Barcelona loanee was signed in January in the hope of impressing the North London club. In the initial stages of his loan period, Arsenal were thriving, and Emery was simply unwilling to introduce too many changes. When the need for a creative midfielder arose, Suarez suffered a groin injury.
To add on to the increasing number of players in the treatment room, Mesut Ozil and Nacho Monreal both missed the defeat to Leicester City over the weekend. Now, Arsenal are facing a severe lack of experienced attacking midfielders and reliable defenders. For the last three defeats, Arsenal have struggled to create chances and score goals.The same could happen when they face Valencia if Emery does not resolve his midfield woes.
#1 Lack of confidence
For a period of time, Arsenal were keeping clean sheets in games against Manchester United, Newcastle, Southampton and Watford. Petr Cech also worked hard to keep clean sheets in the Europa League. Now, the club's defensive woes have returned to haunt them. An embarrassing mistake from Shkodran Mustafi led to Arsenal's loss against Crystal Palace. From then, the team has lost confidence.
In the match against Leicester City, Ainsley Maitland-Niles' sending-off also dampened the spirit of the players. None of the players played with confidence. All of them were lacklustre in their passing, unlike their energetic selves when Arsenal faced Napoli.
Should Arsenal continue with this lack of confidence in their game, defeat is the only result that will emerge from the game for the Gunners. Emery will have to think of a way to inject some positivity into the team and rebuild the players' confidence following three consecutive defeats.
