Floundering Arsenal have their task cut out

Arsenal's collapse at the business end of the Premier League season means the success or failure of Unai Emery's first campaign now solely depends on lifting the Europa League and as a result sealing Champions League football.

The Gunners travel to Emery's old club Valencia on Thursday defending a 3-1 semifinal, first leg lead given to them by star strikers Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at the Emirates last week.

Arsenal's awful record on the road this season will give the Spanish side plenty of encouragement that they can overturn a two-goal deficit.

Emery's men conceded three times in losing at Wolves and Leicester in their last two away league games and were also defeated at BATE Borisov and Rennes before turning Europa League ties around at the Emirates.

Attack may therefore be the visitors' best form of defence in the cauldron of the Mestalla and Arsenal are at least getting what they paid for from Lacazette and Aubameyang.

Arsenal have taken one point from their last four Premier League games to realistically end their chances of a top-four finish and the first leg against Valencia could easily have gone the same way as Marcelino's men scored an early away goal and led the Gunners to a merry dance for the first 20 minutes.

However, one moment of magic turned the tie as Lacazette played in Aubameyang, who paused, left Neto, Ezequiel Garay and Facundo Roncaglia on the floor before squaring for his strike partner to roll into an empty net.

Lacazette added his second eight minutes later and Aubameyang's late strike gave Arsenal the two-goal cushion they may well need.

The Londoners' first season without Arsene Wenger for 22 years has been dogged by many of the same defensive problems suffered by the Frenchman towards the end of his reign.

But Wenger's final two big signings have come good as club record fees were paid for Lacazette in the summer of 2017 and Aubameyang in January 2018.

After a difficult first six months in England, many thought Aubameyang's arrival was ominous for Lacazette's longevity at the club, but the two have formed a fine partnership on and off the field.

Only Liverpool's Mohamed Salah has scored more Premier League goals than Aubameyang's 20, but it is Lacazette who won the club's player of the year prize for his all-round contribution with 18 goals and 12 assists.

Those figures are all the more impressive as they have often had to battle for just one starting spot. Both players have voiced their displeasure at Emery's reluctance throughout the campaign to play with two strikers.

Chelsea confident

After a turbulent first season at Chelsea, Maurizio Sarri goes into Thursday's Europa League semifinal against Eintracht Frankfurt savouring some much-needed breathing space.

Sarri has spent most of the campaign engaged in a struggle to win over his sceptical players and fans.

At one stage, it appeared the Chelsea manager was fighting a losing battle as a miserable run of results sparked reports he was on the verge of the sack.

Amid reports that Chelsea's stars were sick of Sarri's inflexible game-plan, monotonous training sessions and habit of criticising them through the media, the nadir came in February when Blues goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga refused to be substituted during the League Cup final defeat against Manchester City.

Sarri has side-stepped one crisis after another just deftly enough that he has emerged from a bleak winter with his prospects of avoiding the axe looking brighter after Chelsea secured a top-four finish in the Premier League last weekend.

With a place in next season's Champions League sealed with a game to spare, Chelsea can turn their attention to winning the first trophy of Sarri's reign. A 1-1 draw in the semifinal first leg away to Eintracht has put Chelsea in a good position for the return leg at Stamford Bridge.