Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

LONDON — Villarreal held out for a 0-0 draw on a nerve-jangling night at Arsenal on Thursday to reach the Europa League final 2-1 on aggregate as visiting manager Unai Emery returned to haunt the London club that sacked him in 2019.

The Spanish side, who had lost their four previous European semi-finals, one to Arsenal in the 2005-06 Champions League, protected their first-leg advantage with a disciplined display.

No, you were not seeing things as Fabian Delph made a rare Premier League appearance while wearing the wrong socks, but it was hardly the most bizarre sight on Friday at the Emirates. Everton handed the Gunners a 1-0 defeat as keeper Bernd Leno committed the exact type of embarrassing own goal the Arsenal owners committed earlier in the week.

A week that began with Arsenal joining 11 much better clubs to try to create a Super League ended with massive protests outside Emirates Stadium calling for an end to Stan Kroenke’s ownership and yet another ignominious defeat on the pitch.

Gareth Southgate made the surprising decision to keep Liverpool fullback Trent Alexander-Arnold off his England squad for March’s World Cup qualifiers. The 22-year-old, who was named to the PFA Team of the Year the last two seasons, wasn’t deemed good enough for the Three Lions, perhaps a victim of his club’s poor run of form.