Former Arsenal man, Emmanuel Petit has urged them to focus on the Premier League and not the Europa League.
Arsenal wants a return to the Champions League, and they came very close to achieving that in the last campaign. However, they finished fifth and will instead play in the Europa League this season.
They reached the semi-final of the competition in the 2020/2021 season and Mikel Arteta wants to win every competition he competes in.
However, the Gunners might not have the firepower to survive in the UEL and the EPL.
They might have to focus more on one of the competitions, and Petit thinks it should be the Premier League.
He said, as quoted by Football London:
“For me, the priority is the Premier League. If they can do something good in Europa League, that’s good enough, I will take it. But to be honest with you, and I’m pretty sure all the players and managers are focussed about it, their priority is the Premier League. They need to come back to the way Arsenal was before years ago.
Just Arsenal Opinion
Winning the Europa League will add one more trophy to our cabinet and also help us return to the UCL.
However, it seems much easier to get back into Europe’s elite club competition by winning league matches and securing a top-four spot in the Premier League.
If we have enough players, we can compete confidently in all competitions, but we need more signings to reach that level.
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He’s right about the priority since one bad game in the later stages can mean you’re out of a cup-type competition (even in a 2-legged format, if you lose a leg 3-0 you’re probably going out).
Also the EL final is after the PL season ends (31/5/23 vs 28/5/23), so the EL winners won’t be known until the PL is over.
BUT… winning the EL gets a pot 1 seeding (even if you’re Eintracht Frankfurt it seems), so it’s not something to be ignored.
And if things don’t go as planned in the PL, it’s good to have another way in.
The EL group stages are wrapped up by Nov 3rd and the knockout isn’t until February 2023. The early stuff shouldn’t be too hard, a lot of squad players can be used.
The WC makes a difference though. Some players will return knackered and they’ll need a rest (Jesus seems the biggest problem there?) – BUT we have some who are not in the WC such as Tierney (Scotland) and Zinchenko (Ukraine) who will get a mid-season rest. Some may even be injured and get a chance to recover.
I keep meaning to look at the squad to see how many will/won’t be going to Qatar… it could be a big factor in the 2nd half of the season – the clubs with a high number of rested players could do unexpectedly well. Brighton for champions anyone? 😉
The ONLY thing that will ever win a championship at Brighton is their seagulls, who will steal more food from those walking near the beach than from any other seaside resort.
I noticed your emoji but as I NEVER USE THE SILLY THINGS, NOR TAKE MUCH NOTICE OF THEM, though I see them of course, I replied in words.
Arsenal should give equal attention to both the EPL and the EL and, perhaps, play down on the domestic cup competitions
I am surprised this statement is coming from Arsenal legend and not a Sunderland or Aston villa.
In my opinion that’s a wrong view.
Yeah we don’t have to necessarily make it a task this Season by winning it but saying we should only focus on the league is lowering the standard beyond imagination.
Man city won’t abandoned the league just because they want Ucl trophy.
Neither would Liverpool abandoned Ucl so just they could win the league.
We might not have what it takes to challenge in all competition and that doesn’t mean we should abandoned one for the other.
These are the opinion you will expect from an Everton legend or so, considering how poor they were in the league last season.
If focusing on one competition is the ideal after spending more than 300m in 3 years, then any manager would have been successful at Arsenal without not having much to do.
After all we have seen leceister and Chelsea won the league while they had no European football at all. We couldn’t manage top4 when given the same opportunity.