Chelsea just won the Premier League title with a 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion, but would they have done so if they had to juggle Champions League football?
Arsenal are currently outside the top-four, and need Liverpool to drop points from one of their two remaining matches, while winning their last three, to have any chance of qualification.
The Gunners should not be too disillusioned with the possibility of missing out on this one occasion however, much in the way that a year outside the coveted European competition has allowed Chelsea to get back to winning ways.
The Blues endured a dismal campaign last season, in which they finished as low as 10th position, but bounced back to winning ways with an emphatic Premier League title win, their second in three seasons.
Arsenal haven’t fallen out the top-four in over 20 years, and should maybe welcome the opportunity to play a season without the elite European competition, especially considering the last two Premier League titles have been won by a team without any European football whatsoever.
As painful as it is to say, if the Blues DID have to play in Europe this season, they would likely have struggled to fend off those noisy neighbours of ours, but if another strong side had no Europe they would have of course been closer.
Our team has been hindered by injuries in each of our recent campaigns, which has to be somewhat blamed on our busy schedule, and maybe we should not be so downbeat about the prospect of playing outside the Champions League next term.
We are of course guaranteed a place in the Europa League should we miss out on the top-four, and we currently have a more-than capable squad to win that competition, but I would much prefer us to rotate our squad throughout the competition and concentrate on trying to win the Premier League.
Would missing out on the Champions League be such a big deal? Have Chelsea just proven that one year outside is not the end of the world?
Pat J