Arsenal should be happy with Europa League by Sam P
I do understand the argument that Arsenal would be well advised to give up on the unlikely chance that we can still qualify from our Champions League group into the knockout phase, The Gunners have to win both of the remaining games including the one in Greece where we have never won and would need a two goal margin of victory.
As well as the growing injury list, the main worry is that we would fall just short but finish above Dinamo Zagreb and drop into the Europa League and most Arsenal fans see that as a distraction that we could really do without. I disagree.
Do we not fancy a European trophy then? Arsene Wenger has still not won one despite making the UEFA cup final in 2000 and the Champions League final in 2006 and I am pretty sure that he would like to add the Europa League to his list of honours.
This could be his and the club’s best chance because with the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid, the UCL looks a long way out of our reach, as starkly highlighted by our pasting by Bayern Munich this week. So is it really better to go one more stage in that competition rather than being one of the favourites in the other?
Okay you have the added problems of playing on a Thursday but surely we could deal with that if the manager and players embraced it and went in with the right attitude. Just as they say that a cup run can help a club’s league form, I think that a long run in Europe could be good for the Gunners this season. Winnig it last season did not stop Sevilla from having a strong La Liga campaign so there is no real reason why it should hurt Arsenal either.
And if we were to miss out on the EPL trophy, it would be nice to have a European trophy to celebrate instead. Do you think we should be happy to drop into the Europa League?