It might not be the glamour trophy of European football and the rewards are not the same as those from the Champions League, but not qualifying would be an absolute disaster financially. We’re already struggling with the loss of income from three seasons without Champions League football, but at least we got to play seven home games and a final in the Europa League last season and seven games without the final the previous season. Losing the income from those games as well as TV money and prize money would limit our capabilities in the transfer market even further.
As it is we’re playing catch up on the teams who qualify each season and missing out on the Europa League would only worsen our position. I really wish we weren’t playing in it, but at the moment it’s our best source of extra income as we try to keep pace with the rest of the “big six.” There’s even the added bonus of Champions League qualification for the winners and we haven’t been too far off that in the last two seasons.
We have a run of eight league games coming up where on the face of it we could win them all and set ourselves up very nicely for a very difficult run in. That run in is very difficult with four of our last six games against the better teams in the league. We need to rack up as many points as possible before then and see where it leaves us.
We don’t play for two weeks after the Burnley game due to the Premier League’s very strangely operated mini-break which isn’t really a break for half of the clubs. I can only imagine they decided to stagger the break to keep the TV companies happy, but at least we’re one of the teams benefiting from it. All of the teams still involved in European football are the ones to benefit which makes sense
Transfer deadline day saw the arrival of a couple of defenders at the club with Pedro Mari and Cedric Soares both signing on loan. With the defensive issues we’ve had they’re welcome additions to the squad, but I don’t think we’ll see either of them involved today. Soares can play at right or left back although right back is his preferred role while Mari is a central defender.
Both Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and David Luiz will return to the squad after serving their respective suspensions and I expect both of them to go straight into the team. The return of Aubameyang means someone else has to miss out and given the choice I would keep Gabriel Martinelli in the team ahead of Alexandre Lacazette, but I’m not sure Arteta will do so. Martinelli is on fire at the moment and surely a player with his momentum must play while Lacazette just can’t get a break in front of goal and he hasn’t scored an away goal in the league in almost a year if I’m not mistaken.
That’s the biggest decision Arteta has to make ahead of the game, but a few others did enough against Bournemouth to be pushing for a place too. I think the centre of the midfield is strongest with a combination of Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka, but Matteo Guendouzi did very well against Bournemouth and it looks like Arteta could be having a very positive influence on him. I still think Xhaka and Torreira will play, but I will feel more comfortable when I see Guendouzi starting or coming off the bench in future.
The other big decision could be whether Mesut Ozil starts or not and it’s difficult to see how that one will go. We all know how often he has been “rested” or “unwell”away from home in difficult games and the performance of Joe Willock against Bournemouth was very impressive. With Dani Ceballos back in the reckoning too there are definitely options for Arteta and it’s not easy to predict which one he will opt for.
A few weeks ago a trip to Burnley looked like it wouldn’t the most difficult of games for us, but their last two results suggest otherwise. They came from behind to win 2-1 at home to high flying Leicester before they went to Old Trafford and beat United 2-0 in their last game. We may have a very good record against Burnley, but those two results certainly suggest it will be far from easy for us.
I still think we have enough to take the three points, but I have no doubt Burnley will make it difficult for us. A win would put us within three points of fifth place as the teams directly above us continue to be as inconsistent as we are. Let’s just hope the players can continue with their improvements under Arteta and bring us a result to keep us cheerful as we wait for the next game in two weeks time.
That’s it for today.
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