It would seem that most Arsenal fans think that the Gunners have absolutely no chance when we come up against Atletico Madrid in the semi-final of the Europa League, but perhaps our pessimism could be misplaced?
The fact is that Atletico are on their way to qualifying for the Champions League through their position of second place in La Liga, but with Valencia and Real Madrid just 3 and 4 points behind them they still have a lot of work to do domestically, and they will surely have to keep playing their best to stay there.
But they are also suffering with many many injuries, and Guillem Balague thinks that the Gunners could be facing them at just the right time. He said: ”It’s a shame Arsenal and Atletico are meeting now, it would have been nice to see them in the final,” Balague said.
“Arsenal are going to face one of the best teams in knock-out competitions in the world. With what they have, they tend to do very well in knock-out competitions.
“But They have weaknesses as well. In the past going a goal up would have been guarantee of victory, but they have dropped points after going ahead, they are less impressive from set-pieces in both boxes, and showed against Sporting that now the squad has become smaller, players are becoming affected by injuries and tiredness.
“They go to Levante this weekend with only 13 players from the first-team at a crucial part of the season where you have to be sharp with players in front of goal
“They may struggle with it. There are angles Arsenal can be positive about.”
So this information may give us all a little bit more optimism for when Atletico come to the Emirates in just 12 days time. Should we stop being so pessimistic for the next couple of weeks?
Sam P