Premier League giants Arsenal are favourites for their second leg meeting with Spanish La Liga outfit Villarreal in the Europa League semi-finals. This is according to the soccer betting odds from various soccer betting sites.

The Gunners will have to beat Villarrealto secure a place in the Europa League final after they lost the first leg at the Estadio de la Ceramica last week Thursday. The North Londoners had trailed to two goals inside the first half hour from the Villarreal duo of Manu Trigueros and Raul Albiol before Ivorian attacker Nicholas Pepe pulled one back for his team in the second half. Pepe tucked away the resulting penalty after Bukayo Saka was brought down by Trigueros in the box.

Arsenal skipper Pierre-EmerickAubameyang came off the bench and he could haveearned a 2-2 scoreline for the Gunners with a late chance. In the end, the Premier League club left Spain with a 2-1 defeat.

Arsenal have to win the second legat the Emirates Stadium on Thursday night to seal a place in the Europa League final. A 1-0 win will be enough for the Gunners to face the winner of the other semi-final tie between Manchester United and AS Roma in the final of the competition. Manchester United lead 6-2 against Roma from the first leg ahead of the second leg at the StadioOlimpico in Rome on Thursday night.

Ahead of the second leg encounter with Villarreal, the Gunners have been boosted with the news that three key players namely David Luiz, Kieran Tierney and Alexandre Lacazette trained with the team in time for the Europa League clash at the Emirates Stadium on Thursday.

David Luiz suffered an hamstring problem during the last game, a 2-0 away win over Newcastle United in the Premier League. The Brazilian defender made his comeback in the game after some weeks out due to a knee injury. He missed the first leg with Villarreal alongside Tierney and Lacazette. Lacazette and Tierney missed the game with hamstring and knee problems respectively.