Giuseppe Rossi is the marksman that Arsenal will have to keep an eye on. He has scored a dozen
times in the Liga and three in the CL. Argentinian Ariel Ibazaga is Villareal's playmaker along
with Cani, who gets back to squad duty after injury.
However, Joseba Llorente is the X factor. He has proved to be a super sub providing four goals
including a hat trick against Danish side, Aalborg.
Lineups are up kickoff just under 45 minutes away. I'm hoping to catch bits of the game but that
could be more difficult than I think.
Villarreal: Diego Lopez, Angel, Godin, Rodriguez, Capdevila, Cani, Senna, Eguren, Ibagaza,
Rossi, Llorente. Subs: Viera, Pires, Franco, Fernandez, Nihat, Javi Venta, Fuentes.
My Catalan isn't great but I believe the picture says "Players, Fans, Everyone United Makes
Strength, Thanks To Everyone" Barcelona wrapped up its 19th La Liga title and all the European cup
spots are pretty much sewn up. The final week of the La Liga season still has some drama left with
5 teams still fighting to avoid relegation.
If Villarreal continues their poor run of form, El Madrigal will look similar to this on match
nights.
After another underwhelming performance in a 0-2 loss to Real Madrid at El Madrigal on Wednesday
evening, Villarreal currently sits in 18th place with only two points from four La Liga
matches.
I previewed the first leg here, so it would be redundant for me to go over the same stuff again,
which would be redundant.
As I wrote yesterday, Wenger has come out and stated publicly that our goal is to come out and
win this game by getting forward and scoring some goals, which, given the situation, is the only
sensible approach.
Will the Gunners injury woes on defense expose them or will Villareal's similar problems on
attack prove to be their downfall.
Villareal's injury problems are probably more significant in their overall impact to their game
as compared to the Gunners.
Both Senna and Cazorla are out and especially without Cazorla's energetic forays wide on the
left, the Villareal attack became patchy and predictable against Arsenal in the first leg.
(Arsenal-Villareal 1-0. Strepitoso pallonetto di Walcott che si mostra lucidissimo a pochi passi
dal portiere avversario)
(Arsenal-Villareal 2-0. Ancora in rete Adebayor, come nel match di andata. Il togolese chiude il
match con uno stop e tiro di destro di gran classe)
(Arsenal-Villareal 3-0, Van Persie su calcio di rigore decreta il trionfo dei Gunners)
ARSENAL (4-4-2): Fabianski; Eboué, Touré, Silvestre, Gibbs; Walcott (31'st Denilson), Fabregas,
Song, Nasri; Adebayor (37'st Bendtner), van Persie (31'st Diaby).
Santi Cazorla, Villareal's versatile presence in the midfield will miss the Arsenal match with
an ankle fracture sustained in the Liga encounter with CD Almeria. In fact, the Spanish
international will be out for four months or more.
In better news for the club, Marcos Senna and Cani are back, in time to help their squad in this
crucial encounter.
Robin van Persie is fit and starts for the Arsenal and teams up with Emmanuel Adebayor up front.
Denilson is relegated on the bench as Eboue starts in place of Sagna at right back with no news so
far on why the Frenchman will not start.
UPDATE: According to BBC, Bacary Sagna has a virus.
Villarreal have been dealt another significant injury blow after Marcos Senna was ruled out of
Wednesday's second leg against Arsenal with a left hamstring problem.
The Spanish international picked up the knock in the second half of Saturday's 2-0 home defeat
by Málaga, limping off ten minutes from time as his side, having already made their three
permitted substitutions, were left to play out the match with ten men.
Hoy el Villarreal pensará en la Champions, por lo que el Málaga puede aprovecharse de la
prioridad de los castellonenses en estos momentos. Pellegrini sabe que todas sus opciones pasan por
ganar en Londres, por lo que, aunque lo niegue, su mente está puesta en el Arsenal.
Y es que el Villarreal ha perdido choques ligueros justo antes de partidos europeos a los que ha
dado más importancia.
Hoy es el día en el que El Madrigal se viste de fiesta para recibir al Arsenal de Cesc y
Almunia. Hay cuentas pendientes entre ambos equipos, que ya se viesen las caras en el 2006, con
aquel fatídico penalti fallado por Riquelme y que privó a los castellonenses de disputar la final
de la Champions League contra el Barça de Rijkaard.
Well the title is finally wrapped up and now La Liga's attention will focus on the races for
European cup spots as well as to see who stays in the Spanish top flight and who does not. Also the
race for the Pichichi will have a very interesting turn in the days and weeks ahead.
Barcelona were given the honor guard in Mallorca, although they would end up losing after former
home team star (Eto'o) missed a penalty in the dying moments of the match.
El centrocampista del Barcelona, Andrés Iniesta, no podrá disputar la Copa Confederaciones con
la Selección española debido a la rotura muscular que sufre en el recto anterior del muslo
derecho, confirmada hoy por el equipo médico de 'la roja'.
Según han asegurado desde la Federación, el tiempo de recuperación de la lesión que sufre el
manchego podría llegar a las ocho semanas.
