Arsenal needs to win their Europa League group to avoid the big guns.
The Europa League is a much-derided competition and rightfully so. The prize money is poor in comparison to the Champions League and the calibre of teams is hardly the best.
However, it does offer a route to qualifying for the next seasons Champions League and for that alone, it is important to Arsenal.
The Gunners record in the competition over the last couple of seasons has been good and there is a good chance they can win it. But they need to get some luck from the draw.
Basically, the group winners are seeded and the best four third-placed teams from the Champions League are also seeded. additionally, the seeded teams play the second leg at home.
The last thing Arsenal need is to face one of the seeded teams and be away for the second leg, especially when there are teams like Ajax, Benfica, RB Salzburg, Inter Milan and Man Utd potentially seeded. Though my understanding is that Arsenal cannot play a team from the same association in the last 32.
There will be a temptation for Freddie Ljungberg to play mainly kids against the Belgiums tomorrow night. That would be a huge mistake in my opinion.
Arsenal simply has to take the Europa League seriously and just as importantly, continue the momentum after the West Ham win. The last thing we need is to register a loss just before the Man City game.
On top of all that it is still silverware, European silverware and the cupboard is quite bare when it comes to those trophies.
I wish the boys and their coach all the best. Winning tonight is very much important and all gooners should be rooting for the boys to do just that. Enough of the toxic atmosphere, especially after West Ham. Let’s go on a roll now, and all hands must be on deck especially the fans.
Arsenal have to play the second team, because they will face Man City three days later
EPL is also important. One defeat is a step closer to relegation nowadays, because we will have tough fixtures after the Man City game
City will destroy us they will tear our pathetic defence to shreds can see them scoring at least 4 prob more so makes no difference whether we save players for that game or not the result will still be the same a bloody good hiding!!
Don’t sit on the fence Dan, tell us what you really think🤣
I think they should pay more attention to Eurapa on Thursday. City game is coming too soon for Arsenal to perform any magic. Second team may not get any good result against standard liege it was defficult to beat them at the Emirate stadium.
I agree, there has been too much chopping and changing this season, so now we need to find some stability and keep a group together, try to build some confidence. We have city in the league and that could easily go against us even at our best. Another win for the team right now is important. Keep the defence together, don’t even change the GK. Midfield, Xhaka and Torreira are our best partnership and both have already missed a lot of football, we have better balance with these two. I liked the look of the front line but I think Laca might come back in, maybe see what he’s like alongside Martinelli, Ozil and Pepe, and hopefully we can introduce some more players if the game goes to plan.
Martinelli, Auba and Pepe must be kept fresh for the Man city game. So also Torreira, and Lenno. As far as the defence goes it would be a good idea to pair Mustafi and Louis. and see how they get along. The EUL is important, but the PL is much more important in terms of making the top 6 and keeping pace with the Spuds and Man United. We should play our best team for the PL and maybe later on for the crucial away EUL games get back some of these players depending on condition of tiredness, form and quality of the opposition.
There will be changes in goalkeeper, defence, midfield and attack, so I’m thinking 4 or 5 changes in all.
I would play holding with Luiz. AMN and Kolasinac may have to keep their numbers.
Martinelli needs to rest.
I would let Pepe play with Lacazette and Cebsllos for Ozil.
Saka should came in for Martinelli.
My prefared line up. Martinez- niles-mustafi-dino-saka-luiz-guendouzi-wilock-smithrowe-laca-nelson.. Keep others fresh
If the caliber of teams is hardly the best, then why are we trying to avoid them…? 🤔
Found the game here in the states…UniMas wfut 12:55 EST in Spanish.