A disappointing night was to be expected on Tuesday as Arsenal met Barcelona in the Champions League, with glory in the Premier League always more likely this season.
Drawn against the best team in the world over the past year, there was little doubt the Gunners would go out of Europe but Arsène Wenger’s men put up a good fight against Barça for 70 minutes before shooting themselves in the foot and being caught on the break.
The loss against Barcelona shouldn’t be any cause for concern, as former Manchester United man and BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand said on Tuesday evening.
“Barcelona are capable of beating any team on the planet on any given day so you can’t really judge them on that,” Ferdinand told viewers, but he did say the pressure is on Arsène Wenger and his players to finally deliver the Premier League title.
“The Premier League this year has been so inconsistent, especially from the top teams like Chelsea, Man City and Manchester United.
“You’d say this is the year that Arsenal should go on and win it and if they don’t then I’m sure questions will be asked [of Arsène Wenger].”
With the league wide open and the big hitters looking inconsistent, Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur have taken advantage to muscle their ways into the title race. It means Arsenal should capitalise, but that will require more consistency than we’ve managed to show so far this season.
Yes, there will be questions asked if we don’t win the league, but the manager’s contract has another year left on it and thinking not winning the league would be enough for Arsenal to sack him this season seems a little naive, if that is what Ferdinand was suggesting.