I am no fortune teller and I am not a medium, (I’m a large!), but I am fairly confident in predicting that Arsenal will not win the Premier League title this season. Not that I am one of the fans panicking about our slow start and losing to Chelsea, I just think that It looks like a two horse race this season, with Man City the team to hopefully stop the insufferably smug Jose Mourinho winning it.
But I also think that Arsene Wenger has bought well this summer and that the Gunners are a stronger squad that should have no problem finishing in the top four once again. So I wonder if maybe this time we should prioritise the Champions League. I doubt if we will be able to win it, but it would be a real boost for the players, fans and manager if we could at least go further than the first knockout stage.
Losing to Borussia Dortmund in the opening game has made that task harder, of course, but you could say that the 2-0 scoreline was lenient on our performance and there is nothing to stop us matching it or better in the return game at the Emirates. Dortmund are in shocking form this season, ravaged by injuries – and the loss of Lewandowski – and their great performance against us was an exception for them. We thumped the Turks and if we can do the same in the two games against Anderlecht, which we should, then Arsenal still have a good chance of topping the group.
Even if we don’t and we have to play one of the group winners, Wenger has the January transfer window to strengthen any positions that we are light in (cough, DM, cough) and barring any more bad luck we should have a full strength squad with key players like Walcott, Debuchy and Ramsey back and fully fit. Also, I think the less frenetic European games will suit the skills of Mesut Ozil more and if the German comes back fit and well and finds the sort of form he started to show before the Chelsea game, he could be the difference against anyone.
So what do you think, Gooners, is this the year for Arsenal to focus on the Champions League?