Wenger has told reporters that he thinks Arsenal can take advantage of the lack of Champions League football in the Premier League.
In a season that is mostly best forgotten, the most disappointing part of 2016/17 was that the final day of the Premier League didn’t bring the usual ‘victory snatched from the jaws of defeat’ that Arsenal have grown accustomed to.
It had almost become a regular tradition. Spurs just need a win to finish above Arsenal, somehow they fail spectacularly, and Arsenal swoop in to collect their spot. This year, Liverpool were the team that Arsenal needed to slip up, and they didn’t. Probably because they aren’t Tottenham.
So Arsenal were left with the Europa League whilst every other ‘big 6’ team managed to sneak their way into the Champions League. Arsène’s been looking for the positives, and pointed out that the previous two league winners also didn’t have Champions League football.
In quotes via The Guardian, Arsène theorised that this was perhaps “because the league is so physically difficult, maybe it is very difficult to cope with both. We will see how Chelsea respond next season.”
He also suggested that Arsenal would “adapt to the level of the competition” in the Europa League, meaning that if Arsenal get a group of weaker teams, the reserve and youth players will get more of a chance.
This would allow the first-team players to have a rest and to prepare for the next Premier League game, the way Leicester and Chelsea could do every week. Wenger focused on this point, saying “for us, it is a good opportunity to focus completely on the Premier League.”
Arsenal fans will be excited about the possibility to see some fringe players in action, for example young Reiss Nelson, not yet 18 but already exciting the Emirates crowd with his ability to beat a man.
However, one aspect of the Europa League that Arsène is not in favour of, despite the obvious potential benefits to Arsenal this year, is the reward of Champions League qualification at the end. He said “I was always against it because, at some stage, it can influence the championship.
“If a team is in a position in April where they have more chance to win the Europa League, they can let some games go in the championship and not completely focus on the regularity of the competition.”