Five things Arsenal must do to beat Valencia

It goes without saying that the Europa League semi-final first leg against Valencia on Thursday is one of our most critical matches so far this season and bluntly put, we cannot afford to screw it up.

There are many many things we need to get right on the night and below I list, what I consider, five of the most important aspects of the game that we simply must nail down.

Keep a clean sheet

That is so important, away goals are like gold dust, just ask Man City if they regret not getting an away goal at Tottenham. The last thing we want to do is give our opponent more of an advantage in the second leg than necessary.

Score of course

An absolute no brainer, 0-0 is not the end of the world but going away without scoring in our own stadium is not worth thinking about, we have the talent up front to get goals and simply must find the back of the net.

Control the bloody midfield

I keep saying this and against a team like Valencia it is absolutely imperative, we do not have Aaron Ramsey to rely on but that does not mean that we cannot both control the midfield and provide decent service for our forwards.

Defend much better than we have been doing.

Another no brainer but it needs reiterating, we kept a clean sheet against Napoli because the defence was well organised and well drilled and there is no reason we cannot replicate that.

Control possession

Spanish clubs are excellent at retaining possession, they are the kings of the side pass and patient build-up and we cannot allow them the freedom to do that, we have to hassle them every second they have the ball, we must frustrate them even if that means niggly fouls, we must break up their play and when we have the ball do to them what they do to others and that is control possession.

There is more of course but in my opinion, if we get those five things right we will win, we will not concede and we will have taken a huge step towards the final.