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Lacazette’s latest goal record and four other things we learnt from Arsenal’s win over Valencia

Lacazette’s latest goal record and four other things we learnt from Arsenal’s win over Valencia

Arsenal have one foot in the Europa League final after 3-1 win over Spanish La Liga side Valencia in the first leg of their semi-final clash at the Emirates.

Two goals from Alexandre and one from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang saw the Gunners come from behind to get a vital win at home.

Below are the five thing we learnt from the exciting clash

Aubameyang and Lacazette are great together

The duo of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang showed why they should be playing together on a regular basis after combining brilliantly to give Arsenal their equalising goal against Valencia.

Aubameyang has in the past revealed that he likes playing alongside Lacazette and showed Unai Emery why after providing the assists for Lacazette’s first goal at the Emirates.

Despite the success of their partnership in previous games, Emery has not always played the duo together. It is left to be seen if the two strikers will play together more before the end of the current campaign.

Arsenal are terrible in defending set-pieces

Arsenal’s first goal, conceded through a Mouctar Diakhaby header, demonstrated the Gunners’ inability to defend set-pieces.

Despite having about three Arsenal players close to Diakhaby, Emery’s men were still unable to stop the goal. Going forward, Arsenal will need to improve that area of their game in order to have a bigger chance if winning this season’s Europa League.

Arsenal’s defensive record destroyed

Prior to this game, the Gunners went a whopping 460 minutes without conceding a goal at home in the Europa League. The last time Arsenal conceded a goal at home was in a 4-2 win over Vorskla Poltava in the group stage of this season’s competition.

Lacazette joined a league of Arsenal European scorers

His goals in the first half meant that he became that the third Arsenal player to score a brace in European semi-final after Englishman Charlie George and Steve Bould.

Lacazette will be key for Arsenal as they look to win the Europa League and finish the season on a high.

Ozil had a strong display defensively

During his time on the pitch, he made more tackles than any other Arsenal player.

But despite this, the German was not very great against Valencia, failing the give the passes the Gunners needed to kill the game. His display probably explains why Emery has left him out of crucial games in the past.

He was replaced by Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the 75th minute.