The Gunners may have been hit-and-miss in the Premiership this season, but they have been hard to fault in Europe - breezing through the group stages of this tournament and knocking out Real Madrid and Juventus in the past two rounds.
Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas and Jose Reyes have been outstanding going forward, but it is the back four of Eboue, Senderos, Toure and Flamini who really deserve the plaudits. With a little help from Jens Lehmann odds, they have kept eight successive cleansheets in the competition - a tournament record that they will be keen to extend against a Villarreal team who are only eighth in the Spanish Primera Liga Table.

Sporting Index quote Villarreal’s first goal at between 66 and 69 minutes, but finding the back of the net may prove beyond them. They have won only two of their past ten matches and have been fortunate to reach the last four - knocking out Inter Milan via the away goals rule in the quarter-final, having previously eliminated Rangers by the same method.

The visiting team clearly represent a lesser assignment for for Arsene Wenger’s team than either Real Madrid or Juventus and, moreover, they have significant injury problems at the back, with Gonzalo Rodriguez and Juan Manuel Pena, their international central defenders, both ruled out.

Buying the time of Villarreal’s first goal is an option, but a buy of Arsenal’s performance, at 60, could be an even better bet. In this market you get 25 points for a win; ten for a draw; 15 for every goal scored and ten for a clean sheet. A 2-0 win for Arsenal would, then, yield 65 points.

You also get three points per corner won and ten points for hitting the woodwork and the ball coming back out into play. On the minus side, you are docked five points for a yellow card and 15 for a red.