News coming through ruling Alexandre Lacazette out of our upcoming Europa League tie, I’m seriously beginning to doubt Arsenal’s chances of glory.
Tottenham all-but ended our hopes of making the Champions League through our league position, leaving us eight points short of Chelsea in fourth, while Liverpool and Spurs also hold seven and nine point advantages over us. This has left us with a mountain to climb with only 11 matches remaining.
This result hasn’t prompted Arsene Wenger to prioritise the Europa League however, at least he has refused to admit to such a thought, but the European competition looks our best bet to qualify, albeit a slim chance.
Our defence this season isn’t worthy of playing Champions League football in all honesty, and we need some serious improvements, not that our club has shown a willingness to invest properly in our back line in the previous two windows.
We were believed to have shown an interest in Jonny Evans in both of our last two windows, but failed to offer a fair amount, and we will likely have to face some serious competition for his signature come the summer, with the Northern Ireland international likely to be available for lowly £3 Million, depending on whether his side retain their Premier League status or not.
Our interest just goes to show that the people behind the scenes knew that our backline was in desperate need of upgrading, but once again they refused to pay a fair price, but as much as I could carry on all day there, I must get back on subject…
Our defence has let in 36 goals already this term, while West Bromwich Albion at the bottom of the table have only let in four more. Our goalkeeper as experienced as he is, is on a big downhill slope, and our defence is quickly joining them. This defence is in no way shape or form good enough to win the Europa League.
I think any optimism for this competition needs to be grounded, as I for one am giving up on our campaign, and some serious changes need to be brought in come the summer, with some more Sven Mislintat additions to our back-line.
Do any of you really rate our chances of winning the Europa League? Even if Lacazette was fit, would it matter? Aubameyang isn’t available, but would he have given us a fighting chance?
Pat J