It looks to me like Arsenal will be the only team from the current top three of the Premier League that will have anything but the Premier League title race to worry about by next week, always assuming that the Gunners manage to get past Watford at the Emirates stadium on Sunday, but how will that affect things?
Leicester City were already out of the domestic cups and it does not seem to be affecting them in a negative way. To be fair they do have a smaller squad with less strength in depth and so the fewer games they play the better. Just like their luck with injury problems and the odd referee decision, late goal or miss by the opposition, everything seems to be going for them this season.
But with our north London rivals the situation is a bit different. Having not won a trophy for ages and thinking of themselves as a big club there is much more pressure on them to compete for every competition they are in. That is why I was surprised to see their manager rest a number of their big players away to Borussia Dortmund.
It was almost like Pochettino threw away their Europa League chance to focus on the EPL title but these things do have a habit of backfiring. It cannot be good for the confidence to get totally rinsed as the spuds were tonight and we can only hope that it affects their confidence.
The score could have been much worse for them than 3-0 and it will be interesting to see how they approach the second leg at home. As there is still a slight chance of overturning it I expect Dortmund to field a strong side and another heavy beating would be lovely.
If they can shrug this European disaster off though and focus solely on the Premier League it could be very bad news for Arsenal, especially with our own injuries racking up as usual. What do you think Gooners?