Troy Deeney says Ademola Lookman will likely be seeking to prove a degree when Arsenal lock horns with Atletico Madrid on this 12 months’s Champions League semi-finals.
Arsenal secured their place within the last 4 due to an edgy two-legged victory over Sporting, with Kai Havertz’s late strike in Lisbon proving the difference after Wednesday’s contest ended goalless.
Sporting had opportunities to level the mixture rating on the Emirates, most notably through Geny Catamo and Maxi Araujo, before Leandro Trossard headed against the post late on in north London.
The result ensured the Gunners reached the successive semi-finals in Europe’s premier competition for the primary time of their history, keeping the club’s hopes of a double alive in the method.
Mikel Arteta’s men will do battle with Atletico Madrid for a spot on this 12 months’s final at Budapest’s Puskas Arena, where the winner will face off against either Bayern Munich or the holders Paris Saint-Germain.
Atleti defeated Barcelona 3-2 on aggregate to advance on Tuesday evening, with Ademola Lookman’s strike enough to send Diego Simeone’s side through after a pair of early goals from Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres at a raucous Metropolitano Stadium.
Arsenal will head to Madrid for the primary leg of what guarantees to be an intriguing semi-final on April 29. The 2 teams will resume their battle six days later on the Emirates on May 5.
‘I feel each teams need it, it’s an enormous moment for Simeone,’ ex-Watford striker Deeney said on CBS Sports when discussing the match-up.
‘Simeone spoke on Tuesday about how the club has evolved they usually’ve allowed him to evolve, but I feel while you’ve got a brand new stadium and the cash that they’ve spent, you must see more progression.
‘I feel the pressure is equal [on both clubs], I feel there’s going to be a whole lot of respect between them as well, each teams will appreciate what the otherguys have done defensively.’
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Deeney is curious to see how Lookman performs across the 2 legs, with the winger perhaps seeking to send a message to those fans who best remember his underwhelming spell within the Premier League with Everton.
‘It should be interesting for the likes of Lookman, what he can do in these moments,’ Deeney added.
‘Obviously when he was within the Premier League he had flashes but he’s type of been considered a little bit of a bust within the Premier League.
‘So I feel it is a massive game for him to showcase [what he can do] against a top team in Arsenal.’
Deeney is anticipating a ‘weird’ semi-final tie between two ‘defensively solid’ teams who ‘don’t want the ball’.
He added: ‘I don’t think Arsenal have that killer instinct in them to go, “Right, I’m going to take the sport on, I’m going to go and beat you by three, 4, five”, they simply play type of percentage football, which is winning football by the way in which.
‘It’s, “We’re not going to take any risks, we’re not going to take any possibilities”, and I don’t know if that gets you to winning this. I don’t know.
‘You’re going to play against Atletico Madrid and each teams are going to do the identical thing. Neither of them want the ball, each need to be defensively solid, each hit on the counter-attack, so it’s going to make for a weird game.’
In his post-match interview with CBS Sports, Declan Rice reassured fans that Arsenal’s squad have ‘massive motivation’ to be positive and beat Manchester City this weekend after last month’s Carabao Cup final defeat.
But Deeney will not be convinced by the ‘messaging’ coming out of Arsenal’s camp after a series of uninspiring and unconvincing displays heading into Sunday’s potential title decider.
‘The messaging coming out of Arsenal… they’re bluffing it,’ he explained.
‘You’ve got the manager talking about being on fire, you’ve got Declan Rice now saying, “We would like to win every game”… we’ve just watched two games against Sporting where you didn’t need to win those games, you tried to not lose.
‘The perfect part about it, which actually winds me up now, Arne Slot spoke earlier within the season about playing against a low block and got crucified by older players, Steven Gerrard coming out and saying that that’s what you usually should do against a top team.
‘Arteta has just spoken about how difficult it’s to play against a low block… you [Arsenal] attempt to stop everybody every week! What are you talking about?!
‘Again, talking in regards to the messaging and the delivery of the message, Declan Rice is clearly attempting to put the captain’s hat on and say all the fitting messaging… unfortunately the camera caught your face at the tip of the sport.
‘That was a sigh of relief, that wasn’t a, “Yes, job done! Onto the subsequent one” after which to take it back to Jeremy Doku’s interview after the sport against Chelsea: “This weekend [against Arsenal] is a large game, can’t wait for it!”, there’s a positivity.
‘Arsenal are going, “If we don’t lose then we’ll be alright”, and if you happen to go into games with that mentality then I just think you’re under pressure they usually’re bluffing it in the intervening time.’
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