LONDON:
Arsenal's dominant win over Slavia Prague in their Europa League quarter-final second leg on Thursday suggests coach Mikel Arteta has his team peaking just in time to fight for their last chance of a major trophy this season and a way into Europe next term.
The Londoners, who sit a lowly ninth in the Premier League with seven matches remaining, beat Sheffield United 3-0 away at the weekend to get the boost they needed to run riot against the Czech champions who had drawn 1-1 at Arsenal in the first leg.
Arteta's side needed to score and started with all guns blazing to cruise past Slavia 4-0 and book a Europa League semi-final spot on Thursday after they struck three quick-fire goals in seven first-half minutes to advance 5-1 on aggregate.
"We know how important the competition is for the club, for ourselves and for the fans," Arteta told reporters. "We brought a difficult result from the Emirates where we were not that efficient on the day and today we showed the complete opposite."
Arsenal, who ended Slavia's 21-match unbeaten home run in all competitions this season, next face their former manager Unai Emery's Villarreal side who beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 on the night and 3-1 on aggregate to reach the semis.
Emery guided Arsenal to the Europa League final in 2019 although they were thrashed 4-1 by London rivals Chelsea.
With the Gunners stuck in neutral for much of this season, Arteta needed to spark the team into life to keep their Europa League run going and try to avoid missing out on European football for the first time since the 1995-1996 campaign.
"We looked a threat every time we were attacking," the Spanish coach said. "We scored a goal that was disallowed and I really liked the reaction of the team."
He will take comfort from knowing Alexandre Lacazette is firing on all cylinders after the striker, Arsenal's top scorer in all competitions this term, netted twice against Slavia.
Arsenal's commitment to pressing the Czechs high up the pitch flustered the hosts who never posed any real threat and the London team's performance followed their first clean sheet in 15 games when they beat Sheffield United at the weekend.
"The clean sheet is important as well, it's the second one in two games and we need to build on that," said Arteta.
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