Mikel Arteta is looking forward to facing Unai Emery and his Villarreal side in the semi-finals of the Europa League.
The Gunners, who reached the final of the competition back in 2019, defeated Czech giants Slavia Prague 4-0 in the second-leg of their quarter-final clash at the Sinobo Stadium this evening, securing a place in the semi-final against Emery’s men.
Arteta replaced Emery at Emirates Stadium in December 2019 and the two will now face eachother for the first time.
Emery is the most successful coach in the history of the Europa League and his side beat Dinamo Zagreb to set up the exciting clash.
“Yes it will be really tough,” said Arteta after the game.
“Villarreal are a tough team and Unai is probably the most successful manager in this competition, and he totally deserves that.
“We know the opponent we are going to be facing, and now we focus on Fulham, we won’t have any time to train, just make sure we recover and get ready to go again.”
Arteta praised his players for their rampant performance in Prague, just days after a similarly impressive win in the Premier League over Sheffield United.
“We came into a tough place. This team hasn’t lost at home in almost two years.
Do you want all the latest news from around Arsenal Football Club straight to your email inbox?
Of course you do.
By signing up for our Arsenal newsletter, you will receive a twice-daily email, focused on all the latest news from the Emirates Stadium.
And, not only that, but you will get exclusive content from our club writers Chris Wheatley and Kaya Kaynak before anyone else.
You won’t miss a thing when it comes to the Gunners.
How do you sign up?
It’s easy and only takes seconds.
Simply type your email address into the box at the top of this article – or any article on the Arsenal section of football.london in fact – labelled ‘Get the biggest daily stories by email’ and click ‘Subscribe’.
Alternatively, you can click here and tick the Arsenal box to subscribe for our Gunners newsletter.
If you decide later that you no longer wish to receive the emails, simply follow the unsubscribe link in one of the newsletters – but we don’t think you’ll want to.
“So, to do what we’ve done tonight credit to the players for how they approached the game and how brave they were in our approach.
“And then I think when we demand from them efficiency, today is a good example of the level of efficiency you need to win matches in Europe away from home like this.”