Arsenal predicted lineup vs Villarreal: Gabriel and Odegaard start

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is facing another defining fixture in his tenure as the Gunners boss continues to come under pressure at the Emirates.

All of Arsenal’s eggs are firmly in the Europa League basket in the final weeks of the season. So it seems imperative that they get a positive result from the first-leg of their semi-final with Villarreal this week.

The Gunners produced an outstanding second-leg display to boot Slavia Prague out of the competition in the previous round.

Unai Emery’s men meanwhile, go into the tie off the back of their own inconsistent run of form. They have won eight and lost five of their last 13 games in all competitions.

There looks to be no chance that Arteta will pick anything other than what he deems to be his strongest possible side for Thursday.

That may mean as many as four changes from the side that lost to Everton on Friday. The most notable change comes in attacking midfield.

Martin Odegaard – who earns £100,000-a-week, according to VG (via Express) – came off the bench against the Toffees. If he is fit enough to be in the squad, Arteta surely cannot afford to leave him out of the starting lineup this time.

That may see Emile Smith Rowe move out to the left with Nicolas Pepe dropping out of the team. Admittedly, Pepe was impressive against the Toffees, so he may keep his place.

Granit Xhaka returns to midfield to sit alongside Thomas Partey. Cedric Soares may therefore come in at left-back.

A controversial decision may be taken at right-back with Hector Bellerin returning. Calum Chambers has done well lately, but Arteta may be wary of asking him to keep his place against the La Liga side.

Meanwhile, Gabriel Magalhaes may replace Rob Holding and play alongside Pablo Mari, who was superb last week. David Luiz may also be in contention after returning to training.

It will also be interesting to see if Arteta is at all tempted to play Mat Ryan. Bernd Leno has been poor of late. But it would be a gamble to throw the January signing in for a rare appearance.

With that in mind, here is how Arsenal may lineup on Thursday…