Narrow win for Arsenal against Atletico Madrid, predicts Charlie Nicholas

Charlie Nicholas provides us with his European predictions as the Europa League reaches the semi-final stage for Arsenal.

Liverpool claimed a 5-2 win over Roma as the Champions League last-four action kicked off on Tuesday night, with Bayern Munich up against fellow European giants Real Madrid on Wednesday.

On Thursday night, Arsenal host favourites Atletico Madrid in the Europa League's last four, with the winner facing either Marseille or RB Salzburg in the final in Lyon.

Here's what Charlie is predicting...

Arsenal v Atletico Madrid (Thursday, 8.05pm)

Arsenal finally made the breakthrough announcement they needed, with Arsene Wenger confirming his departure at the end of the season, but I don't think the Gunners were overly impressive at the weekend.

I thought it was a really strange selection not starting Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Alexandre Lacazette has found himself some scoring form but he's probably still thinking he wishes his move to Atletico Madrid had gone through in the summer.

Atletico are heavy favourites for me with their defensive strength and Arsenal's backline constantly making me nervous. How Shkodran Mustafi is still in the team is beyond me, but the competition isn't really there.

There's not much between these two sides other than their defences and I can see Arsenal scoring a couple of times at the Emirates Stadium, but my concern is keeping that concentration to prevent Atletico snatching a vital away goal.

Charlie predicts: 2-1 and Lacazette to score first (25/1 with Sky Bet)

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