Arsenal’s win over Everton today proved to be pointless with no Champions League place earned, but the match has also cost us two of our defensive stars.
We had to go all-out today for the win to have any chance of qualifying for next season’s elite European competition, but also needed either Liverpool not to win, or Manchester City to lose, with a reasonable shift in goal difference,
We did our bit, but both of our rivals came away with comfortable wins, and we will now have to settle for a season of Europa League instead, but our fixture today has left a bitter taste in our mouths for more than just that.
Laurent Koscielny got himself (stupidly) sent off today with a sliding challenge early into the game, and will now miss next weekend’s FA Cup final against Chelsea, our last chance for silverware.
The Frenchman is not our only loss from today’s match however, with Gabriel also expected to miss the trip to Wembley after picking up an injury today, with Wenger confirming his knock will likely see him miss out. He said: “Koscielny’s red? It was harsh but we have to accept the decision.
“Gabriel’s injury looks quite serious, especially for next Saturday.
“We lost two centre-backs and that’s a big blow.”
We will likely have a back three of Rob Holding, Shkodran Mustafi and Nacho Monreal starting against Chelsea next week, but any more injuries and may have to play Francis Coquelin or an inexperienced player against this year’s stand-out side.
Our hopes of winning next week were already slim, with Chelsea playing the best football for most of the season, and without Koscielny, those chances are even slimmer…
Can we overcome the Blues without our stand-in captain? Will this be Holding’s chance to make a name for himself? Or will Mertesacker return for a glorious finale?
Pat J
Doesn’t matter.
Chelsea will be well rested and full of confidence having been crowned champions of England.
We will still be suffering from a hangover that could last for a very long time. Don’t fancy our chances but sad to say I haven’t for quite some time.
I don’t understand what this article is about !!!
Another pointless article comes with a damning cost…
what did you not understand??
Chelsea will win the double
Fans should protest correctly for the right demands
The big protest came too late
We need to look forward for next season with a major overhaul
“We will likely have a back three of Rob Holding, Shkodran Mustafi and Nacho Monreal starting against Chelsea next week”
Mertesacker over Mustafi for me. He looked good today I thought.
I would prefer Mertesacker over Monreal if anything – Monreal plays much better as a wing back, and has a good understanding with AS7
It is high time stop all these negativity if we actually care about this club and we want to enjoy being arsenal fan again. we fans are as much as the board, the coach and players are responsible for the present situation of the club. The negativity is too much. A great example is this post. I don’t know when winning a match become pointless. You would rather arsenal lost the match so that you can have a go at Wenger. its obvious that you care and that you want arsenal to qualify for champion league other you wouldn’t have written the post. it is a reflection of how deeply hurt you are. I’m glad the league is over now and what is left is fa cup final and I believe a larger % have already conceded to Chelsea. so if that eventually happened and don’t see why we should be annoyed about that. This
majority also want arsenal not qualify for CL. they have had there wish come through. It is time to wiped slate clean, come together and pull the team out of the mess.
If everyone is responsible no one is responsible which is sure fired route to further malaise … responsibility lies with board and manager … if criticism of them is negativity so be it … call me mr negative … make arsenal great again … drain the swamp!!!!
Doesn’t look likely we win the fa cup even with Kos it didn’t look likely its just been a season we will all want to forget. On a positive note at least we won’t be embarrassed by Bayern or Barca next season obviously its better being in the Champions league but we don’t ever look like winning it at least we have a chance of winning the Europa League I personally would be happy winning that competition as our European record is shocking one cup winners cup in 24 years of European football.. I just hope its under new management and new ownership as I couldn’t stand another season of listening to Arsene Wenger, I respect the man for his 20+ years of service but his time has surely got to be up.. The situation at the club is poisonous we have a manager who decides his own fate a board room full of greedy geriatrics and a majority owner who uses the club as a big ATM who knows sod all about football we all know his sports teams are sh*t the sooner this cancer is cut out of the club the happier we will be
Why such negativity? Chelsea aren’t guaranteed the FA cup. We can beat them if we show half the grit we’ve shown in recent games. It’s one game and they are beatable, especially if we turn up on the day and give them a hard game.
I fancy us to win the FA cup, and then lose our best player over the summer..
Half the grit you say?…more like conte and his boys will allow you guys to roam about freely so that Potato head will have the last laugh
Have to say that it was a terrible decision by Koscielny to go flying into that tackle so recklessly. I thought someone with his experience would be able to control himself better. Once again we have shot ourselves in the foot with a big game coming up next week.
I’m a Chelsea fan.
It’s a cup game, anything can happen.
Nobody gave us a chance at Munich in 2012.
Also, there’s no shame playing in the Europa League: Rafa Benitez (ugh) won it for us when he was our interim manager. It’s a beautiful trophy, should win it at least once to add to your trophy cabinet collection.
And if you win the EL, you’ll get a bonus UEFA Super Cup game against the CL winner. That’s always fun, and you might pick up another trophy.
The key is to have a big squad and rotate well, especially if you’re travelling to faraway exotic countries for away games e.g. Ukraine, Russia, Romania, Turkey, Greece, Kazakhstan.
We’ve had a turd of a season last year. Even missing out on CL alone has made us lost lots of money. This season is joy but it’s also relief.
Arsenal needs to rebuild. My opinion is that the network in charge of scouting/transfers at Arsenal isn’t very good. So it’s not just a Wenger or Kroenke issue.