Europa League: Emery's Villarreal Manage To Win Against Arsenal

Unai Emery was victorious when he faced his former side, Arsenal in the Europa League match,  Villarreal won the match 2-1 with both teams losing a player each to a red card.

Manu Trigueros and Raul Albiol gave Villarreal a dream start at La Ceramica and the tie looked to be slipping away from Arsenal.

Ten-man Arsenal rallied and grabbed an away goal when Nicolas Pepe converted a penalty in the 73rd minute before Villarreal's Etienne Capoue also saw red with 10 minutes left to play.

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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang might even have snatched a late equaliser for the visitors but Mikel Arteta will be delighted his team are not just in the contest but in a healthy position too, with an away goal to take back to London next week.

"It changes completely the tie. It makes a huge difference," said Arteta. "We know we are there, we have to be better and if we are we will have the chance to be in the final."

For Villarreal, a chance was missed but the lead is still welcome and Emery will take comfort from the fact that they were the better side for the best part of an hour, even before Ceballos was dismissed.

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"Things went for us and against us but we have to keep believing," said Emery.

"It was a difficult challenge before the match and it's still difficult. But with everything on the table, we have won, we have the advantage."

Emery said on Wednesday he would always have a "place in his heart" for Arsenal, despite a turbulent 18 months in charge of the club before he was sacked in 2019.