Any result against lowly Girona in the last ECL league game guarantees us a top eight spot; even a close loss would be enough. That means that we'd get a bye in the first knockout games and go directly to the last 16. With our injury situation, this is key. We can hope to have Ben White back, and there's a chance Saka could start to ease himself back into fitness in another eight weeks. Barring a Liverpool collapse (it could happen but they've been superb), our most realistic chance at winning something is Champions' League. I'd love that. We have never done it in the ECL format. Arsenal is third in the ECL table because our defense has been excellent. We got some luck with the schedule, in that our hardest games were first, before the injuries to Odegaard and Saka. But the table does not lie: we've been really good in this competition.
There's the matter of trying to overturn Newcastle's two-goal League Cup semifinal advantage in St James Park, which isn't likely. But it's not impossible. I like this team. They aren't giving up and neither am I. The defense is very good and the offense is scoring more than a squad without a recognized striker should be. If we can get Saliba, White, and Calafiore back, it will solidify the former. We'll need an impact transfer, or a wildly improbable breakout season for Nwaneri, to improve the latter in the absence of Saka.
No comments:
Post a Comment