Things can only get better by Sam P
So matchday is finally upon us and Arsenal can banish the negativity from Saturdays unlikely defeat at West Brom by getting revenge on Zagreb. Not only to regain the feelgood factor, but also to give us a real chance of going through to the knockout rounds if Bayern continue their fine home winning form.
Arsene Wenger believes that, although we are suffering from injuries now, when all our walking wounded return to fitness we have the firepower to go a long way in Europe’s most prestigious compeition. “In the last two games we have dropped points,” he said yesterday. “We know as well that before that we won five games on the trot and you can go through a spell like that – it is how you respond to that and that is what makes your season.
“That is why it is a good test for us. It is true that we need a positive result from Bayern, but that only has an impact if we win, so let’s focus on what we can do.
“I believe that when everybody is back we have a squad to compete in both [the Premier League and Champions League]. If we go through now in the Champions League we can be very dangerous for everybody.”
We all know that we can be excellent when we have every single one of our players fit, the only problem we have is convincing the fans that that will ever happen in our lifetimes. Every season we have the same problems and end up making do by playing our reserves out of position simply to make up the numbers.
But last season our injury problems forced the introduction of Hector Bellerin and the return of Francis Coquelin. Maybe we’ll get lucky again?