Would Arsenal be better off with or without the UEFA Conference League?
If we look at the Premier League table, Arsenal strangely can still finish in the Europa League place by finishing sixth.
But it seems highly unlikely that they will leapfrog the likes of Everton, Tottenham and West Ham United, who all are above the Gunners, with a game in hand.
The most likely scenario for next season is no continental football at all in 25 years. But the prospect of finishing seventh and qualifying for the brand-new UEFA Conference League is also viable.
Overtaking their North London rivals Sp*rs to qualify for the tournament would make it even sweeter. Or will it..?
It is an open secret that Arsenal are set to go through massive changes this summer. They are looking at several players at a number of positions. Edu and Arteta would hope that the summer overhaul and better recruitment from there on, would put the club back among the higher echelons of England as well as Europe.
Even if they miss out on Europe altogether, it won’t be the end of the story. Chelsea missed out on Europe after finishing 10th in 2016.
Within, 12 months they lifted the Premier League title. Although they had a very talented squad, no European distraction certainly helped them immensely.
More recently, Everton and West Ham have dramatically improved their league position this season.
One of the major reasons for it is because they have not been involved in any continental football. Leicester City can also be thrown in the same ring, as the club has knocked at the Champions League door in the past two seasons. After bottling it last summer, they look destined to qualify for Europe’s elite competition this season.
Mikel Arteta might find it better to focus on only one match per week. More work on the training ground will rationally be better for their chance of finishing in the top four.
But there is always two sides to a story. The all-new European competition will feature teams even weaker than the teams that compete in the Europa League.
That might prove to be priceless in developing the young guns at the Emirates Stadium, who otherwise won’t get a look in, if the team plays one game per week.
Folarin Balogun and Miguel Azeez’s development and the new signings’ adaptation in the new squad might be facilitated by giving them minutes in the Conference League.
Thus, it feels like a win-win situation for Arsenal, whether they qualify for Europe’s third-tier competition or not.
If EPL is the priority, better forget about EL for now. If there’s no EL and we still can’t reach top 6, then Arsenal would need a new manager and some new players
so wait…..lets forget about trying to get in EL so we focus on Prem which will help our chances of a top 6 which would put us in the EL ?
Rome wasn’t built in a day, so better focus on EPL first to fix our squad
So how long did it take to build Rome.
This is football not cities (of course I know what you mean). But take note we have not won the champions league, no Europa cup in recent memory. The last time we won the EPL is escaping memory now, Saka may not have been born if not in Nappies.
I struggle to get young fans to support Arsenal with. At least Liverpool after recent performances no longer only have oldie fans.
For everyone that was against the ESL should be against this. It’s just another money making comp further supporting Uefa’s monopoly.
This would be a terrible competition that would likely require us to travel to the far corners of Europe, boarderline Asia.
We should focus on EPL only and play our youngsters in another other comp, thats it.
@PJ-SA
Exactly. Concentrate on the EPL and FA cup….
All those young players not playing in the Premier League will love the Conference League, still a great opportunity for them
Majority of the squad still travels regardless of who starts and MA will still probably play at least 5 1st team players in these games
well said PJ, this competition is about TV rights and money, yet again. It’s not any better just because UEFA are in charge, arguably worse since we know how incompetent and corrupt they tend to be.
It is just a money making scheme by UEFA. Hopefully fans want no part of this like no part in SL.
disagree guys
Last season 7th was enough for the final qualifying stage of EL
They simply called it something different
Also 7th only is enough because the two Cup winners qualified for Europe through League position.
That’s always been the rule so not like SL at all.
SL we were just going to be rewarded with a spot .
Here there are rules which apply to everyone
EG, if we finish 8th we wouldn’t be in anything
Mute point anyway as very unlikely we can qualify
Need to win both games and hope that 2 teams slip up dramatically
Chelsea didn’t win the Prem because they had a year out of Europe
They won the Prem because their owner brought players
More like because they replaced a failing manager with a good one. We should look into that….
no manager will win Prem under current owner
owner didn’t pick those linesups though.
I am passionately against this new Euro so called competition and am relieved that it is unlikely we will be in it. It would be nothing but a hindrance and would not help attract new players in the least.
We need to play fewer games not more and that would be a massive help in fewer injuries and more time on the training ground to find cohesion. It almost certainly won’t happen, thankfully!
Ek on his failed opening bid last week ;
“They replied that they don’t need the money. I respect their decision but remain interested and available should that situation ever change.”
Just look, and reflect upon for a moment, on Kroenke’s reason for bid rejection.
“they don’t need the MONEY” !
Not “wanting to take Arsenal forward”, or
” having unfulfilled ambitions for the club” – no, simply having enough MONEY.
Where is the “sporting” ambition for our club.
Even if you were not sincere, surely acknowledged business etiquette would offer up a more professional response than “not needing the money”.
And to think we “didn’t want the likes of Usmanov” on the board ?!
The above should tell you all you need to know about this unambitious, aloof absent landlord of an “owner”, who has no emotional attachment to the club whatsoever.
AJ NO REASON TO BE SURPRISED THAT A SNAKE ACTS LIKE A SNAKE. It was always predictable, with that poisonous immoral creature.
Focus on championship league in 2 years. Easier to manage as well
Why to bring him back under this clueless manager and destroy his career? Let him prosper elsewhere….
Soz peeps misworded that
I understand we dont go into the EL in 7th
My point is we are not being awarded anything , that just happens to be the rules if the two cup winners are already qualified
Hence 7th last season was enough for EL
Only difference here is its a different comp but principle is the same
Sounds so poor teams that we could just play youngsters anyway and actually win a European trophy ?
We have to look at winning something in Europe not just participating. We must remove that mindset. This year a lot said we had not chance for EL trophy i stead we push the board and the whole team we can make it or even let them feel the pressure so they spend well for us to win European trophy. It has always been EPL which we drop season in season out.
Sad days ☹️
Hope things get better soon💕
With a manager like this, we need at least a year out of Europe. A strainous competition like that will be a massive distraction.
Great! Arteta wins another trophy!
The “Poison Chalice” that is entry into the Europa League B.
Does the wally who wrote this article actually believe entry into this competition this would be good for Arsenal.
Let Spurs spend a year searching Google Maps to find there next away game!
Covid is not going away any time soon, so some of the travel to maybe the Arctic Circle or Siberia might be difficult.
It sounds like a waste of time and energy but perhaps the embarrassment of being in such a competition might serve as an extra incentive for those involved to actually get out of this hole. At least it would if Arsenal have any further claims to be a “big” club.
I just hope the Spuds finish 7th and are drawn against Klaksvikar Itrottarfelag of the Faroe Islands and playing the qualifying rounds in July. It will be good for the Faroe Islanders though!
We need a good pre-season to sort ourselves out.
What’s the “open secret”? I have been disappointed so many times, I will wait until the first match of next season to see who Arsenal turns out in the shirt.
A route to win european Cup competition