Arsenal vs Valencia LIVE: Team news CONFIRMED, Europa League semi-final latest, Mesut Ozil

ARSENAL vs VALENCIA

Arsenal XI: Cech, Kolasinac, Koscielny, Sokratis, Mustafi, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Aubameyang, Ozil, Maitland-Niles, Lacazette

Valencia XI: Neto, Diakhaby, Garay, Paulista, Roncaglia, Piccini, Soler, Parejo, Gaya, Rodrigo, Guedes

• Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny, Matteo Guendouzi and Petr Cech return

• Former Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin misses out for Valencia

• Ex-Gunner Gabriel Paulista lines up in Valencia’s defence

Frankfurt vs Chelsea

19:13: Obviously Arsenal aren’t the only ticket in town tonight. Chelsea have their own semi-final clash away to Eintracht Frankfurt. Eden Hazard rested… which is strange.

You can keep updated by clicking the link HERE.

Eintracht Frankfurt XI: Trapp, Abraham, Hinteregger, Falette, Da Costa, Fernandes, Hasebe, Rode, Gacinovic, Kostic, Jovic.

Chelsea XI: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Christensen, Emerson, Kante, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek, Willian, Giroud, Pedro.

Team News

19:10: Arsenal make four changes for the first leg of their Europa League semi-final clash with Valencia as Mesut Ozil returns to the starting line-up.

The Gunners, who have lost their last three Premier League games since beating Napoli in their quarter-final tie, also welcome captain Laurent Koscielny back into the side.

Ozil was sidelined for Sunday’s 3-0 loss at Leicester with a bruised foot but was deemed fit enough to start as Matteo Guendouzi and Petr Cech also come in.

Former Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin missed out for Valencia as he serves a suspension – as fellow ex-Gunner Gabriel lined up in the visitors’ defence.

Carlos Soler, Mouctar Diakhaby, Ezequiel Garay, Cristiano Piccini are recalled by Marcelino following a 1-0 home defeat to Eibar on Sunday.

Twitter round-up

Layth: Valencia appear to have named six defenders in their starting XI to face Arsenal. Nice and ambitious…

Patrick: Despite spending 30 months as an Arsenal player, Paulista’s best performance at The Emirates Stadium will undoubtably be tonight. I know it, you know it, we all know it.

Murray: Rival fans love pointing out the fact that Liverpool & Spurs will end up trophyless, but at the end of the day both are top five clubs at the moment. Both clubs doing amazing work, miles ahead of Arsenal/Chelsea/United.

It’s the law of football, Patrick. A player who scored an own goal will always ‘make amends’ too for some reason…

Starting XI…

19:00: Unai Emery makes four changes from the side who were steamrolled by Leicester. Mesut Ozil returns to the starting XI.

Arsenal XI: Cech, Kolasinac, Koscielny, Sokratis, Mustafi, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Aubameyang, Ozil, Maitland-Niles, Lacazette.

Subs: Leno, Monreal, Torreira, Elneny, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Nketiah.

Valencia XI: Neto, Diakhaby, Garay, Paulista, Roncaglia, Piccini, Soler, Parejo, Gaya, Rodrigo, Guedes.

Subs: Domenech, Lato, Wass, Santi Mina, Ruben Sobrino, Torres, Gameiro.

The battle for fourth

18:55: Not quite the Battle of Winterfell in Game of Thrones, granted, but a battle nonetheless.

Chelsea are firmly in the driving seat with 68 points. They’ll need maximum points from their final two games to secure Champions League qualification at the group stages.

Arsenal are down in fifth on 66 points – meaning they’ll need Maurizio Sarri’s side to drop points. United are sixth and you would imagine they’ll take six points against Cardiff and Huddersfield.

If the winners of the Europa League finish outside the top four in the Premier League, it will mean five English teams will be in the Champions League.

However if they do finish in the top four, then England will not get an extra spot.

No Rambo… ever again!

18:50: As you know, Aaron Ramsey has played his last game for Arsenal.

*Pauses for emotional sigh and perhaps a few tears*

Ramsey will leave for Juventus in the summer, having agreed to join the Serie A giants on a free transfer when his Gunners contract expires.

The 28-year-old injured his hamstring during the second leg of Arsenal’s Europa League quarter-final victory over Napoli and, while Unai Emery’s original estimate was that Ramsey could be back within two or three weeks, he will now miss the remainder of the season.

And even if Arsenal reach the final in Baku on May 29, Emery conceded the game would come too quickly for Ramsey to be involved.

Evening…

18:45: Hello everyone and welcome to our LIVE coverage of the Europa League.

Arsenal and Chelsea both still in the hunt for the right to have Lionel Messi score a certified worldie against them in next year’s Champions League.

The Gunners host Valencia in the first leg of their last-four encounter.

Unai Emery’s side go into the game having lost their last three Premier League matches as they struggle to secure a return to the top-four.

Their hopes of playing Champions League football hang in the balance, with Europa League success another way of qualifying.

Anyway – enough waffle. Let’s get this started!

ARSENAL vs VALENCIA

Arsenal will hope to have Nacho Monreal fit for their Europa League semi-final first leg at home to Valencia on Thursday night.

The defender missed the weekend defeat to Leicester with a calf problem but trained on Wednesday morning.

Aaron Ramsey (hamstring) will not play for the club again, while Danny Welbeck (ankle), Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding (both knee) are all out for the season.

Provisional Arsenal squad: Leno, Cech, Maitland-Niles, Lichtsteiner, Jenkinson, Mustafi, Koscielny, Papastathopoulos, Monreal, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Torreira, Elneny, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Nketiah.