My Arsenal Blog

There can be no doubt that the second leg of the Europa League semifinal against Villarreal, played tonight (Thursday) at the Emirates, is the most important one of Mikel Arteta’s time in charge of the team so far. The whole season seems to be hanging on its result, but it’s actually more than that, for several reasons, some rather obvious, some perhaps less so.

The importance of playing in the Champions League cannot be overstated, either from the financial point of view, or in terms of club reputation. The Gunners have been trying for years, without success, and the Europa League has (too) long been their consolation battleground.  .......Read more here.....

Manager Mikel Arteta says Arsenal cannot allow themselves to get distracted by recent reports of a potential takeover ahead of the second leg against Villarreal in the Europa League semifinals.

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry confirmed earlier this week that Daniel Ek, the co-founder of Spotify, has contacted the Kroenkes with the aim of presenting an offer to buy the club. The bid, believed to be in the region of £1.8 billion, is due to be sent to the current owners in a few days, and Ek is apparently confident, with the full backing of Henry, Patrick Vieira and Denis Bergkamp, that it will be taken into consideration regardless of the Kroenkes’ recent statement that the club is not for sale.  .......Read more here.....

The fact that Arsenal’s season cannot be described as successful is pretty obvious, and with that in mind, the rumours about the club considering parting ways with manager Mikel Arteta, though noted, haven’t been able to gather pace so far.

However, it seems some ‘outlets’ feel it’s time they had another go. The rumour comes from Italy this time, and it involves not only Arsenal, but fellow Europa League semifinalists AS Roma. Apparently, the Gunners are supposed to have made a list of potential replacements for Arteta, and one of the names there is Roma boss Paulo Fonseca. That is according to TuttoMercatoWeb, who also claim the club hierarchy are not happy with Arteta’s work and the lack of progress under his command. They also say that at this point, only lifting the Europa League trophy could save Arteta his job.  .......Read more here.....

The amusing part about getting into Europe is that the primary focus, more often than not, then switches towards trying to achieve qualification the very next season. Football should be all about living in the moment and for large periods of this campaign, many Arsenal supporters have already started talking about the future under Mikel Arteta.

The next step

While we also think the future is going to be bright if Arteta is able to implement his style at the Emirates, that doesn’t really matter at this moment in time. What does matter is the season we’re currently in the midst of and the progress Arsenal are making on all fronts.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal are facing a tough six days ahead of them, as they are scheduled to appear in three games within a short period of time: on Thursday, 19 September, the lads will be travelling to Germany, where they will be playing a Europa League match against Eintracht Frankfurt; on Sunday, 22 September, they have a Premier League head-to-head with Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium; finally, on Tuesday, 24 September, the Gunners will be playing against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup. Arsenal’s last match of the month is due to take place on 30 September against Manchester United at Old Trafford.  .......Read more here.....

The UEFA Europa League may not be seen as a great competition by Arsenal fans, and understandably so after their loss in the final which prevented them from playing Champions League football next season. However, not only does it serve as a valid entry back into Europe’s biggest club competition, but it also gives other teams a chance to live out their dream of playing European football.

Here they come

Case in point: Wolverhampton Wanderers. The Midlands-based club have long since been viewed as a sleeping giant within English football, but in the last twelve months, they have been able to burst through the glass ceiling after finishing 7th in the top flight, qualifying for the Europa League and reaching the FA Cup semi-finals.  .......Read more here.....

We can all moan and groan about the fact that Arsenal are going to be playing in the Europa League again next season, but let’s face it, there’s nothing that we can do to change that. What’s done is done and instead of licking our wounds, it’s time to start preparing for Europe’s second biggest club competition. After all, there’s no point in pretending like we all didn’t big it up last season.  .......Read more here.....

The UEFA Europa League is one of those competitions that never seems to get the respect it deserves, and to be perfectly honest, we can’t see that changing anytime soon. The majority of teams will always strive to enter the Champions League, and even for those who consider that goal to be unrealistic, they’d still prefer to think of that as opposed to considering the possibility of playing on Thursday nights.

Alas, the Europa League is a competition that consistently features some of Europe’s most underrated sides, and it almost always serves up some really entertaining encounters. People just, for some reason, have this negative perception of it, and the sooner fans come to understand the benefits of the competition, the better.  .......Read more here.....

Arsenal’s French striker Alexandre Lacazette has been talking about the importance of centre-back Laurent Koscielny in the Gunners run to tonight’s Europa League final against Chelsea.

Respect for his compatriot

Talking about his teammate, Lacazette told Teamtalk: “He worked all summer to come back quickly and when he came back he played four games in a row after a big injury. That is really hard.

“He has helped us all season to be better in defence. We all have big respect for Laurent. A really big respect”.  .......Read more here.....

It’s the day of the UEFA Europa League final, and as such, there should probably be around 60,000 fans from the red and blue side of London descending on the city in which the final will be held. Of course, due to the absolute insanity that is the game being held in Baku, there are only a handful of fans on either side of the fence. We’ve seen videos coming out that showcase the clear gulf in numbers between the two sets of fans, too, with the Gunners coming out on top pretty convincingly.  .......Read more here.....