There is a scenario that could see Arsenal starting next season with a Europa League qualifier just 11 days after the end of the World Cup.
2Arsenal don’t win Europa League
This is very likely.
Although Arsenal can beat anyone in a one-off game, they have to turn up first and then hope they can take advantage of their opponent’s weaknesses.
To get to the final, never mind to actually win the thing, Arsenal have to get past Atletico Madrid in a two-legged affair with the second game away from home. Atletico have conceded just three goals at home in Europe this seasons, and two of those were to Chelsea That’s right, they’ve played six European games at the Wanda Metropolitano and conceded in just two of them.
Away from home in Europe they have conceded four.
Arsenal, on the other hand, have conceded 10 in 14 matches which is positively watertight compared to the 45 they’ve conceded in the Premier League. It’s an even split between home and away in Europe with five conceded in each.
We used to be able to count on Arsenal to get up for matches like finals and semi-finals, but as we saw at Wembley against Manchester City who didn’t even play that well, this is no longer something we can take for granted from this Arsenal team.