Bukayo Saka says Arsenal had "a lot of positives" despite losing to Villarreal

Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka is looking on the bright side after his team’s first leg defeat to Villarreal in the Europa League semi-finals.

Two first half goals put the Spanish side in the driving seat, while Dani Ceballos’ red card just before the hour mark gave the Gunners a mountain to climb.

However, a late Nicolas Pepe penalty gave Arsenal a precious away goal and a fighting chance of reaching the Europa League final for the second time in three years.

Saka, who has played in seven Europa League matches so far this season, believes Arsenal showed their quality in the latter stages of the game.

Speaking to BT Sport, he said: "There's a lot of positives, which all came in the second half.

"I'm just happy that in the second half we picked ourselves up and had a good chance, managed to score, and gave ourselves a chance at the Emirates.

"100 per-cent we showed we were better than them.

"Even with ten men we were dominating them.”

Despite the positives from his team’s second half performance, the 19-year-old was frustrated by the way his team started the game.

"It's a semi-final in the Europa League. Starting a game like this it's impossible to have a chance of scoring,” added Saka.

"We didn't create anything, we lost every duel, we were passive.

"It's really frustrating to look back on it.”

Looking ahead to next week’s return fixture at the Emirates, the England international believes that the fate of the tie is in the Gunners’ hands.

"It's up to us, it's always up to us,” he said.

"We have a team full of quality players and when we play properly we can beat anyone. We showed that today."

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