For a club of their history and size, Arsenal have an appalling record in European competition. With the possible exception of Atletico Madrid, they are the biggest club in Europe never to have won the European Cup or Champions League and they have only ever won two European trophies in total. To put that in perspective, even Spurs have won more European trophies than Arsenal.
However, this is not the season to change that record, because Arsenal should forget all about trying to win the Europa League, which resumes next week, and instead focus solely on winning the Premier League.
After Everton, The League Enters Its Final Third (or Less)
After Arsenal gained revenge on Everton for the defeat at Goodison that started their recent stumble of two defeats and a draw in three league games, which saw them lose more points in those three league games than they had in the previous 19, the Premier League campaign is entering its final third – actually less, with only 13 of the 38 games left.
Superficially, Arsenal seems set fair, with a five-point lead over Manchester City and a relatively benign run of three out of their four next league games at home and against opposition struggling in the bottom half of the table (Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, and Leeds). With the return to fitness of Thomas Partey and Gabriel Jesus looking set to join him soon after his long post-World Cup lay-off, everything seems to be falling into place for the Gunners.
In reality, however, their lead over Manchester City is nearly wafer-thin. They still have to visit City, who they have lost their last 11 league games in succession to (and City will obviously be determined to make it a round dozen in April). In addition, even after the 4-0 thrashing of Everton narrowed the goal difference gap, City retain a superior goal difference of +39 to Arsenal’s +33.
Assuming Arsenal lose at The Etihad (which, after losing 11 league games in a row to the same opposition, seems a reasonably safe assumption), that would leave the Gunners only two points ahead (assuming both teams win all their other games before then). And because of City’s superior goal difference, Arsenal knows that even a draw at, say, Anfield or Newcastle (both venues where they lost last season) will not be enough to stop City from going back on top of the table on goal difference.
Our 200th @PremierLeague goal under Mikel Arteta, from every angle 🤩 pic.twitter.com/sZ0aD80Mnp
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 27, 2023
That is why Arsenal must remain lazer-focused in their quest for the league title, and to help them to retain that focus, Mikel Arteta must seriously consider resting all his first-team players for any remaining Europa League games.
Arsenal Do Not Have To Win The Europa League as Arsenal Should Forget Europe
Although it’s always nice to win silverware, especially in Europe where Arsenal have so often struggled in the past, the main attraction of winning the Europa League is that it would guarantee a place in the Champions League next season. However, with Arsenal now 19 points ahead of fifth-placed Newcastle (albeit that Newcastle have two games in hand), it would take a truly spectacular collapse for the Gunners not to finish in the top four of the league and thereby qualify for the Champions League through the traditional route.
Consequently, the Europa League, which was Arsenal’s safety net at the start of the season (a competition to try and win if they could not qualify for the Champions League through their Premier League placing), is now firmly a second-tier consideration. And as such, Mikel Arteta should play his squad players in it, starting with the first leg of the last 16 tie away against Sporting Lisbon next week.
One of the benefits of having built up the Arsenal squad so successfully over the last year, after it proved painfully thin during the end-of-season collapse that cost the Gunners their place in the top four last season, is that Arteta could genuinely play a completely different eleven against Sporting Lisbon and still have a reasonable chance of progressing, especially with the second leg at home at The Emirates.
Rather than the established first team, many of whom have played almost every minute of every Premier League game this season, Arteta should unashamedly choose a Second XI for Europe: Turner; Tomiyasu, Holding, Kiwior, Tierney; Jorginho, Vieira; Smith Rowe, Nketiah and Nelson (with only Nelson currently an injury doubt of all those players). That team would still give Sporting a game while, far more importantly, allowing the first team to rest up completely for the crucial league games ahead.
In addition to keeping his first-team players fresh for league games, such a strategy would have the added bonus of breaking the dreaded “Thursday-Sunday” cycle of football that involvement in Europa League football inevitably brings. Although there may not seem to be much difference between a Thursday-Sunday cycle of play and the Tuesday or Wednesday-Saturday cycle common for Champions League teams, it has been proven beyond doubt over many years that it is far more disruptive and fatiguing.
At The Very Least, Arteta Should Omit Partey And Saka From Europe
Of course, Arteta is unlikely to be quite so radical as this, especially as he has already said before the resumption of the Europa League that he will pick the “best team” available for each match. That strongly suggests that he will continue to pick many of his first-team players for European games, starting next Thursday, with greater use of squad players like Tomiyasu and Tierney.
If that is the case, then at the very least he should completely omit from his Europa League squad Arsenal’s two best and two completely irreplaceable players: Thomas Partey and Bukayo Saka. Partey has only just returned from injury, after his first two seasons at the club were badly disrupted by injury, and so should only be selected for Premier League games, allowing him to play just once a week on average.
The Ghanaian midfield general’s importance to Arsenal can hardly be overstated. No less an authority than club legend Tony Adams has said that at his best Partey, at least defensively, is as good as both Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit combined (although Adams did stress that he was only talking defensively because Partey has nothing like the offensive attributes of Vieira and Petit). Jorginho was a good January transfer window signing, but it is already obvious that he cannot replace the power, pace, and sheer presence of Partey.
It had been thought that Arsenal’s other irreplaceable player was Gabriel Jesus, but that theory has already been largely disproven, with first Eddie Nketiah and now Lisandro Trossard proving more than capable deputies for the Brazilian. Instead, that mantle has now passed to Bukayo Saka.
Saka may be Arsenal’s MVP (Most Valuable Player), even more so than Partey. His goal against Everton broke the deadlock in a game that Arsenal had been struggling in beforehand. And his combination of goals and assists this season, which, lest we forget, had a World Cup in the middle of it (at which he also excelled), is already the finest of any player of his age (he is still only 21) in any of Europe’s big five leagues.
Much of Arsenal’s attacking power this season has come from their so-called “Wonder Wingers”: Saka and Gabriel Martinelli. In truth, notwithstanding Martinelli’s generally good form this season (which against Everton included two more goals), Saka has pulled clear of him and is fast approaching genuine world-class status. That is why he must not be risked in the relatively unimportant Europa League and instead kept fresh for every single Premier League game.
Now Or Never For Arsenal to Win the Premier League: Arsenal Should Forget Europe?
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Arsenal’s entirely unexpected title challenge this season is the relative youth of the side. On average, they are the youngest side in the Premier League and are considerably younger on average than most of the other teams at the top of the league, especially City, who are almost a team of veterans by comparison.
Given the youth of the side, the temptation for Arsenal fans and perhaps even Mikel Arteta himself is to believe that even if they do not win the Premier League this season they will still have an outstanding chance of doing so in the next few seasons. However, as every football fan above a certain age knows, there is absolutely no guarantee of that. The last two times that Arsenal challenged for the Premier League title, in 2008 and 2016 (and on neither occasion did they maintain their challenge as long as this Arsenal side has done), it was thought that they would regroup afterward and continue their upward rise. In truth, the moment had passed and they never challenged for the title again.
Ready to give it everything again tomorrow 💪 pic.twitter.com/xbFlYJoCNC
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) March 3, 2023
That is worth remembering now as Arteta and Arsenal face a 13-game shootout for the Premier League title, against vastly more experienced and vastly richer opponents (meaning they have a much deeper squad) in City. They should do absolutely everything they possibly can to maximise their chances of winning the title this season, for the first time in nearly 20 years. And if that means effectively forfeiting or at least reducing their chances of also achieving rare European success, then so be it.
