Arsenal vs Villarreal preview as the Gunners return to the Emirates

Here's Nick Manfredi's preview of Arsenal vs Villarreal as Mikel Arteta's Gunners host La Liga side at the Emirates 

There will be a Spanish flavour to the end of Arsenal’s pre- season, starting with the visit of Villarreal.

Villarreal are a Champions League side so we should expect a very competitive game. La Liga starts at the same time as the Premier League so both sides should be at a similar stage of their pre-season preparations.

Villarreal have a host of familiar faces in their ranks, most notably our former record signing, Nicolas Pepe who joined last summer following a spell in Turkey.

He played 28 times last season, getting three goals and six assists.

It’s fair to say his stock has plummeted in recent years. It’s easy to say this in retrospect but quite what prompted us to fork out £72 million for his services I will never know. But you can’t blame Pepe for his price tag and I’m sure he will receive a nice reception from the Arsenal fans.

They also have another former Gunners flop in the shape of Denis Suarez who had that disastrous loan spell in 2019. We really did make some strange signings under Unai Emery.

Villarreal have been managed by Marcelino since 2023. He initially made his name with Recreativo de Huelva who he got promoted to La Liga in 2006 winning Spain’s manager of the year in 2007. Marcelino is in his second spell with the Yellow Submarine having first joined in 2013 following their relegation to the second tier. He guided them back to La Liga and even reached the Europa League semi finals in 2016. He then went on to Valencia where he won a Copa Del Ray before eventually returning to Villarreal.

Our last meeting with the Yellow Submarine was a painful one, which we all remember. It was of course our Europa League semi final defeat back in 2021.

Following a 2-1 defeat out in Spain, Arsenal had to score in order to make it to the final. Despite creating a host of chances, we failed to do so, and we were dumped out by Unai Emery just 18 months after sacking the Spaniard. It also more or less consigned us to a first season without European football in over 20 years.

We have had happier encounters with Villarreal, most memorably in 2006, when we beat them 1-0 on aggregate in our first ever Champions League semi-final. Kolo Toure’s goal had given us a slender lead to take to Spain, but it was a real nail biter, with Jens Lehmann famously saving a last-minute penalty from Riquelme. He never looked confident, did he?

We met them again at the quarter final stage three years later, this time comfortably dispatching them 4-1 on aggregate.

Villarreal finished 5th in La Liga last season but have qualified for the Champions League as Spain were awarded an extra place for its club’s performances in European competition.