Can Arsene Wenger end his tenure as Arsenal manager with his first European trophy at the club?

Atletico Madrid – who are two-time winners of the Europa League – stand in the Gunners’ way over two legs at the semi-final hurdle.

The two clash firstly at the Emirates on Thursday night, with the return fixture at Atleti’s new Wanda Metropolitano home on May 5.

Australian outfit Red Bull Salzburg or Ligue 1 side Marseille face-off in the other last four encounter.

The overall competition winner of course gets a Champions League place for their troubles too.

But focusing here on Arsenal-Atleti, we look at some of the key stats around the game.

ARSENAL

– Quite amazingly, this is the first competitive meeting between the two clubs with their only prior clash coming in Arsenal’s pre-season tournament, the Emirates Cup. The Gunners won 2-1 that day back in 2009, with Andrey Arshavin  scoring a double.

– The Gunners will be happy the first leg is on home soil given the fact that they have won their past six clashes at the Emirates on the bounce (all competitions) and scored at least three goals in each of those matches.

– Arsenal have won only ten of 31 prior European matches against Spanish opposition, losing 14 of them in the process. Their most recent defeat against a side from La Liga came during the 2-0 loss to Barcelona in the round of 16 first leg in 2015-16.

– The North London club’s last European semi-final two-legged affair against a Spanish club ended in a win, with Wenger’s men securing a 1-0 aggregate success over Villarreal back in 2006 (1-0 home, 0-0 away). Arsenal of course went on to lose the final to Barcelona in Paris.

– While missing out on the Champions League last season didn’t fill Arsenal fans with joy, the Gunners have enjoyed a clinical Europa campaign and have secured more wins (eight) than any other club and are also the competition’s top goalscorers with 29.

August 1, 2009: The only previous meeting between the two clubs in the Emirates Cup.

ATLETICO MADRID

– Atletico Madrid are experiencing a wretched run of form. Diego Simeone’s men have only won one of our of their last five matches in all competitions and failed to find the back of the net in their last two.

– Away from their Wanda Metropolitano, Atleti have lost their past four matches on the road and most recently went down 3-0 to Real Sociedad in La Liga.

– Indeed, Atletico have won only four of their past 14 away leg UEFA semi-final matches.

– Atletico’s record against English clubs is pretty good, with the Spanish side having won 10 out of 27 matches against teams from the UK, drawing 11 and losing six. Over two-legged affairs, Atletico have a dominant record and have won seven out of nine match-ups. Only Derby County (1974-75 UEFA Cup) and Bolton Wanderers (2007-08 UEFA Cup) have eliminated them.

– In each of their past two visits to England, Atleti have two draws. Last year, in April, they gained a draw against Leicester at the King Power Stadium to secure their passage via a 2-1 aggregate scoreline to the semi-finals. The Spaniards also drew against Chelsea in this season’s group stages.