Arsenal, Chelsea Seek Spots For All-England Europa League Final

All permutations are pointing in the direction of two English Premier League clubs locking horns in the Europa League final, just as it will now be in the UEFA Champions League’s title-deciding game on June 1st, megasportsarena.com reports.

With Tottenham Hotspur having shocked Ajax Amsterdam of Holland 3-2 last night, some 24 hours after Liverpool pulled off a similar feat, with a historic 4-0 cruise against Barcelona of Spain, the next EPL clubs to shout about are Chelsea and Arsenal.

Dramatically, they are both based in the same city with Tottenham, meaning London is again in the spotlight, as Chelsea and Arsenal go in search of Europa League final tickets, with second leg matches tonight.

As things stand, both sides are very well placed to move into the grande encounter, to procure all-England finals in both Euro clubs competitions, with a 1-1 draw for The Blues away to Eintracht Frankfurt of Germany last week, while Arsenal beat Valencia of Spain 3-1 at Emirates Stadium.

Of the duo, Chelsea will be at home in London tonight, as The Blues are at Stamford Bridge with a mission to consolidate on gaining a ticket into next season’s UEFA Champions League, following a 3-0 win over Watford last weekend, which eased the pressure off Maurizio Sarri.

It means The Blues will regard reaching the Europa League final just as an opportunity, no longer a necessity. However, Sarri is desperate to end his long wait for a trophy as a manager, and wants something to show for a journey that has taken the team to seven different countries during this season’s second-tier European contest.

Sarri acknowledged that Chelsea should have got more than one away goal in the first leg, but the West Londoners showed enough passion to suggest they can silence Frankfurt if they perform to their best tonight.

The German team battled gallantly, but still looked out of sorts, as Chelsea dominated the middle period of a game which was one of Frankfurt’s most significant for 39 years.

Though the Germans head into this clash with memories of how they conceded four at Benfica in the quarter-finals, Adi Hutter and his squad will take belief from away wins they got against Olympique Marseille, SS Lazio and Inter Milan earlier in the campaign.

In the other game tonight, Valencia look at sea, as defeats to Atletico Madrid and Eibar in La Liga were followed by the setback in North London last Thursday, and it has put Marcelino’s squad on the back foot ahead of welcoming The Gunners.

Valencia returned to winning ways at the weekend with a 6-2 triumph at struggling Huesca, but it has done little to reassure supporters that their side can overturn a 3-1 deficit under pressure.

Valencia are currently on a seven-game streak without a clean sheet in La Liga, and have conceded last-minute goals in each of their last three matches in all competitions.

Similarly, the Spanish club’s former coach, Unai Emery is not standing easy, and it could take lifting the Europa League trophy for the Spaniard to win over critics at the end of his first season in London.

Arsenal’s tour-four implosion has placed increased priority on winning this competition, and, unlike Chelsea, Emery’s side are almost desperate to reach the Europa League final in Baku.

The Gunners also made a trip to Spain at this stage of last season’s Euro competition, but a 1-0 setback at Atletico Madrid left them missing out.

Much of the present squad was there at Wanda Metropolitano, and Emery will hope they learned from that experience, which came in Arsene Wenge’s last season with The Gunners.