Neither Arsenal nor Valencia are pulling up any trees coming into the first leg of the Europa League semi-final on Thursday evening at Emirates Stadium.
Both sides will thus look to shift the focus off their horrendous domestic displays and turn a corner with a possibly huge continental result here.
Watch video Arsenal vs Valencia – GOALS and Highlights
The Gunners’ ambitions of a top-four finish in the Premier League suffered a massive blow with a streak of four defeats in past five rounds. Unai Emery’s men lost three in a row at the hands of the likes of Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City.
The Spanish manager clearly has reasons to be worried knowing his men did not concede fewer than three goals in any of these three subsequent Premier League losses.
Arsenal vs Valencia: Head-to-head
This will be the first official head to head encounter between the two sides in 16 years.
They met each other in two separate Champions League campaigns back in early 2000s.
Valencia advanced from the 2000/01 quarter-final tie on the away goal rule (2-2 on aggregate).
The Bats were also more successful winning four points in two group stage games in the Champions League 2002/03 season.
Arsenal vs Valencia: Prediction
Luckily for Emery (who led Valencia back in 2008-12), the Bats are also failing to seize the initiative in the Primera Division battle for top-four finish. Marcelino’s men sit 6th in the league ladder with a three-point deficit to fourth-placed Getafe.
The Bats lost two on the bounce in La Liga. Whilst the 3-2 defeat at Atletico Madrid can’t be regarded as a big failure, weekend’s 0-1 loss to Eibar at Mestalla definitely can.
However, Valencia enjoyed an amazing Europa League run with five wins and a draw in six knockout stage fixtures against Celtic, Krasnodar and Villarreal.
Arsenal kept their net untouched in three successive Europa League ties, including two quarter-final legs against Italian giants Napoli.