Unai Emery is thanking his lucky Arsenal stars.
Just seven days ago, the 1-1 draw with Brighton killed off Arsenal ’s fight for fourth place.
It meant the only realistic way that they could qualify for next season’s Champions League was to win the Europa League.
And they took a big step towards doing that on Thursday night.
Emery’s red-hot striking duo of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette blasted Valencia out of the water over two legs in a 7-3 aggregate triumph.
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Now Emery and Co are heading to the final in Baku on May 29, knowing that victory over Chelsea will give them their golden Champions League ticket.
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Emery admitted: “We only have two chances to qualify, and we lost one of those. Now we have a chance to do it in the Europa League.”
Arsenal went to Spain 3-1 up from the first leg, but Valencia have one of the meanest defences in La Liga.
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No side had put four goals past them all season – Barcelona and Real Madrid couldn’t do it, and Diego Simeone’s Atletico scraped past Valencia 3-2 when they met.
But Arsenal had no trouble in pulling them apart. Emery added: “These two matches were amazing. Our mentality and how we responded was perfect. We showed everyone our character and our capacity to be together.
“Defensively and attacking, we can take good moments.
“Not one team has scored four against Valencia and only one time Atletico Madrid scored three goals – and we did that last week. Valencia are a very good team, a very difficult team and we showed in these moments we can do that.”
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Valencia’s 27-year-old midfielder Francis Coquelin spent 10 years at Arsenal, making 105 appearances and winning two FA Cups.
The France star knows exactly what made the difference between the two semi-finalists.
Coquelin said of Aubameyang and Lacazette: “We were up against a team with great strikers. PE and Alexandre are just so good that you can’t give them any space.”
