Being an Arsenal fan is hard and sometimes painful, but it is generally exciting. This is the team that attracts a lot of viewers, especially in the UK. In fact, a recent study on sports streaming trends showed that Arsenal is one of the most streamed football teams in the UK.
This summer, Oleksandr Zinchenko joined the London club, bringing a vast number of Ukrainian and international fans. Knowing the history of Zinchenko’s goals, we can predict exciting matches.
Arsenal will not play in the Champions League for the sixth season in a row. This is the pain that the fan of the club experience yearly, but they still do not lose hope that the Gunners will soon break through.
However, if we look at their recent success, even if Arsenal qualify for the Champions League, they have a good chance of getting eliminated by Bayern Munich in the last 16. This has happened in three seasons already.
Not flying out of Bayern in the playoffs is possible only when you get on the German machine in the group stage. This was the case in the 2015/16 Champions League. Then Arsenal even won one of the matches against them.
According to many experts, Arsenal can reach the final of the European Cups, but it doesn’t have the strength to win them. Arsenal had the opportunity to compete in the decisive confrontation of the Champions League and the Europa League and lost both times.
Barcelona was the strongest team the Gunners had ever confronted in the Champions League. They played in the finals in 2006. It seemed that Arsenal was very close to winning the coveted title. Campbell opened the scoring in the match, and it lasted until the 76th minute. Everything was spoiled first by Eto’o and four minutes later by Belletti.
In the final of the Europa League in 2019, Arsenal played against Chelsea. The “aristocrats” did not leave the Gunners much chance – a 4-1 defeat and another battle for the European Cup trophy was lost.
What else can happen? The transition of the club leaders to Barcelona. Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Thomas Vermaelen, Alex Song, Alexander Gleb, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – all of them were the leaders of Arsenal at one point moved to Barcelona. Is it worth reminding them that each of them did a crucial job in the team?
The disappointment of losing Henri, Fabregas, Vermaelen, Song, and Gleb was felt by every Gunner. The most recent example of this trend is the transition of Aubameyang.
What other factors will affect Arsenal’s ability to fight for the title in the league? The departure of Arsene Wenger is a painful topic for the Gunners fans. It would seem that we wanted him to leave so badly because it seemed that Wenger sat too long and began to turn from a hero into an outcast. But maybe if we could look into the future, we would change our minds about the departure of a long-time coach. It also had a significant impact on the team. Namely, Wenger left Arsenal at the end of the 2017/18 season. He was replaced by Unai Emery, who at that moment had managed to win the Europa League three times and even work with PSG. The change of coach should have refreshed the team’s game and brought success, but it didn’t happen. 5th place in the Premier League and a loss in the final of the Europa League – this is the result Emery left behind, having worked one and a half seasons.
A month after the resignation of Unai Emery, Pep Guardiola’s assistant at City, Mikel Arteta, took over the team’s leadership. He took over the club at a difficult time because the 8th place in the Premier League (at the time of Emery’s departure) was not something to be cheerful about. In Arteta’s first season, no miracle happened – the Gunners finished the season in a shameful eighth position, although they managed to win the first title with the team – Arsenal won the FA Cup.
From all of the above, we can conclude that Arsenal can compete for the title, but the chances of winning are still minimal.
