Will Unai Emery add to his Europa League haul with Arsenal this season?

Arsenal return to Europa League action next week with a trip to BATE. With Unai Emery a perennial winner of the competition with Sevilla, hopes will be high that he could deliver a trophy to the Emirates cabinet in his first season in charge.

With Arsenal’s Premier League form being patchy at best, focus has to shift on to the European competition for two reasons. Firstly, it would be silverware. And secondly, winning the competition means qualification for next season’s Champions League, something that is not guaranteed considering Arsenal’s Premier League position.

Surprisingly, Emery’s side are second favourites with the bookies to lift the trophy in May. Arsenal are currently priced at 6/1 behind Premier League rivals Chelsea who are at 4/1 with many of the online betting sites.

Two Serie A teams are next on the bookmakers list; Napoli, under former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti are priced at 7/1 and Inter come in at 10/1.

Before Arsenal can start thinking about winning the trophy, they have to overcome a tricky trip to Bulgaria next Thursday.

Emery has so far used the Europa League to blood younger players like Emile Smith-Rowe, Joe Willock and Eddie Nketiah.

With Smith-Rowe moving on loan to RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga, there will be no more Europa League action for him this season.

But will Emery persist with the younger players in the competition, or move back to his more experienced players now that the tournament must be considered high priority?

Arsenal are 8/15 on to win in Bulgaria next week but that pricing has to be dependent on the side Emery selects.

Attacking wise, both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette have featured three times each, scoring three goals between them. The now-injured Danny Welbeck and Smith-Rowe are the leading forward appearance makers so far, featuring four times each.

If Arsenal are serious about trying to win a competition that Emery’s name will forever be linked to, the two senior strikers will have to feature more heavily from the start – especially if Arsenal get drawn against one of the bigger names left in the hat in a future round.

It is at the back that Arsenal could have the greater worries. Hector Bellerin is out for the rest of the season and potentially more meaning that Emery may have to rely on Stefan Lichtsteiner; a player who has not impressed greatly since signing from Juventus in the summer.

The versatile Ainsley Maitland-Niles has had some minutes at right-back this season and is another option.

In goal, you’d imagine that Emery will select his now-first choice shot-stopper in Bernd Leno. As fitting as it would be to see the legendary Petr Cech play his last ever match of professional football in a European final, sentiment cannot get in the way if Arsenal are to progress. Therefore, if Arsenal were to win the Europa League, Cech’s medal would have to be from the substitutes bench.

Arsenal’s wildcard in the tournament is Denis Suarez, signed on loan from Barcelona in the January transfer window.

Suarez has form with Emery and winning the Europa League as part of the victorious Sevilla side of 2014/15.

Could he be the spark that leads Arsenal to glory in Baku?

There is a lot of football to be played before then.