Arsenal defeated Valencia 3-1 in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final on Thursday and will, therefore, take a two-goal advantage to the Mestalla for the second-leg.

Unai Emery made four changes for the first leg of their with the LaLiga side as Mesut Ozil returned to the starting line-up.

The Gunners, who have lost their last three Premier League games since beating Napoli in their quarter-final tie, also welcomed captain Laurent Koscielny back into the side.

Ozil was sidelined for Sunday’s 3-0 loss at Leicester with a bruised foot but was deemed fit enough to start as Matteo Guendouzi and Petr Cech also came in.

Former Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin missed out for Valencia as he serves a suspension – as fellow ex-Gunner Gabriel lined up in the visitors’ defence.

Carlos Soler, Mouctar Diakhaby, Ezequiel Garay, Cristiano Piccini were recalled by Marcelino following a 1-0 home defeat to Eibar on Sunday.

Arsenal found themselves behind inside 11 minutes – gifting an away goal for the Spanish side.

After a promising start, the hosts should have fallen behind in the ninth minute when Ezequiel Garay inexplicably blazed over Jose Gaya’s low cross from two yards.

But they only had to wait two minutes to break the deadlock as Mouctar Diakhaby nodded home from close range after Rodrigo headed Daniel Parejo’s corner back across goal.

Arsenal should have fallen further behind when a Parejo drive from range was parried by Cech, which Ainsley Maitland-Niles attempted to head back to the home goalkeeper with Rodrigo intercepting but could only chip over the crossbar.

The hosts drew level in the 18th minute when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang beat the offside trap and cut inside the penalty area with Neto rushing out to close the angle, before the striker stabbed a pass for Alexandre Lacazette to pass into an empty net.

Emery’s side turned the match on its head when Lacazette netted his second in the 26th minute.

Arsenal worked down the left wing and Sead Kolasinac curled in a great delivery for the French striker to direct a powerful header into the ground and in off the post, which Neto tried to keep out only for referee Clement Turpin to signal that the ball cross the line.

Aubameyang got in on the act himself with moments left in the game, as the Gunners’ top scorer netted a crucial third goal with Sead Kolasinac grabbing the assist.

TeamTalk