Why Europa League can HELP Arsenal’s title challenge

As well as needing to be strong in the English Premier League games over the next few months in order to make sure that Arsenal are one of the clubs in the mix when the festive season comes around and we around the halfway point of the current season, Arsene Wenger and the players have six Europa League games to contend with.

How serious the boss takes the baby brother of the Champions League is still a question that needs answering and with the way that the fixtures have fallen probably means that the boss will decide to rest key players on those Thursdays.

Away games and early Sunday kick offs will hardly convince Wenger to select a strong Arsenal team in the Europa League but in a way that could help him. The Arsenal fans will surely understand it if the Frenchman goes with lesser used players and youngsters from the academy and that could be very good for them and for the whole club.

The likes of Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Mohamed Elneny, Rob Holding, Reiss Nelson and Alex Iwobi might not be in line to see much first team action at the minute but the Europa League games should give them chance to gain fitness and form.

Not only will it be good to have these fringe players as ready as possible for when we need them, we might just see one or two of them prove to us that they should be in the first team, thereby increasing the competition for places that every successful side should have.

So do you think Arsenal will benefit from being in the Europa League this season?

Bob.

12 Comments

  1. Arsene and his players better take the Europa league as seriously as possible.

    Its a good route to get back to the champions league which most of us actually want.

    If Arsene feels most fans, legends and pundits are attacking him now, try losing the EL and don’t make top 4 and see what happens (not that he cares that much anyway).

    I feel we have a better shoot at winning the EL than the EPL, and I would take the EL trophy over finishing 2, 3, or 4th in the EPL.

    1. Bear in mind big teams who get knocked out of CL will come down to Europa.. i had actually thought in the past few seasons that would have been good for Arsenal in fact as we had no chance of winning CL but could easily have won the Europa..

  2. I have said all summer that I believe Europa league is more difficult that CL when it comes to balancing the PL requirements. Playing on Thursday nights is a killer as far as prepping a team for a Sunday or Monday PL game is concerned. Not even Mourinho managed it last season finishing 6th in the PL.

    I hope we manage this process as well as can be expected. I for one would definitely give starts to players who are no automatic starters in the PL and I would definitely rest injury prone players and Kolasinac and Laca assuming they start every PL game. A first season in the PL is something to get used to for foreign players since the pace and the number of games is higher.

    On a different note: I am not sure Elneny should not have a place in our PL team. Yes, I admit he is not a sexy player but he is much more disciplined than Ramsey, a good passer of the ball and a better tackler than Xhaka. Some times you need a non-sexy DM. Don’t underestimate Elneny and his value to the team. In a way, as DM he is more complete than either Ramsey or Xhaka in my opinion.

    1. from time to time we have welcomed uncut diamond types that go-on to prove welcome additions to the side (*take a bow kolo toure).

      elneny cost little and he arrived relatively as an unknown and has since been underestimated. but i sense he is neater on the ball than ramsey (i agree); he has an x-factor value which in time could see him consolidate his place permanent in our first-eleven: the flip-side in his game is that upon conceding a goal he’s amongst the first whose game becomes erratic and his resort is to rely only on side or back passes. realistically he’s only a 45min player, who needs to be more fearlessness and to show wilful intent, that’s in each and every game.

      1. Interesting observation about his response after conceding a goal. Will have to look for that next time he plays and we concede.

        I have to say I thought he gave a great 90+ minutes in the community shield. So not sure why you think he is a 45-minute player. (besides Wenger usually subs at 70 😉

        1. @Nothing Changed – my observation is more concerned with how he played in the league game against Leicester City the first substitutions were elneny and holding who were replaced by ramsey and giroud (respectively): before being subbed elneny appears to have been at sixes and sevens and though he was subbed after close to an hour it was clear to see he was out of his depths lost composure, panicked and he wanted out.
          this is why i trust him for 45mins, as i said. its really not hard to review his performance.

  3. Manchester United took the Europa league seriously
    Manchester United will be playing in the Champion’s league tonight

  4. I don’t think we stand a chance of contending for the PL title. We will let in too many goals, and we should be more than happy, if we finish in top 5.
    We have a slightly better chance to win the Europa League, and for me, that is our chance to get back into CL.

    1. A top 4 in the PL this season would be a good result IMO. Don’t see it happen but obviously, it could happen. The EL might be harder to win than people think.

      If we want to finish in the top 4 we have to start winning games against top 7 teams. Most top 7 teams will drop some points against “lesser” teams but the best chance to differentiate yourself in the top 4 race is to beat the competition in the direct confrontations. That’s why the Chelsea game next Sunday is so big.

  5. I am sick of top4 trophy just to play in CL so that Kroenke put the money in his pockets. We need trophies, it doesn’t matter if those are FA Cup or EL.

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