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Should Arsenal focus on the Champions League this season?

By mac14 on December 22, 2024

With Arsenal struggling to keep pace with Liverpool in the Premier League title race, I look at whether we should focus on the Champions League during the second half of the season.

Heading into the 2024/25 campaign, Arsenal were widely tipped to challenge Manchester City for the title once again after running them close the previous two years. We made a good start after navigating some tough away games and were right in the mix at the top of the table after the opening few weekends.

However, we fell away during a tough run that saw us pick up just two points from 12 available – losing to Newcastle and Bournemouth while drawing with Chelsea and Liverpool. We got back on track with victories over West Ham, Man Utd and Nottingham Forest to retain hopes of battling for the title this season.

Arsenal then had the opportunity to close the gap on Liverpool when we went to Craven Cottage on December 8th, but could only manage a draw. We were then held to a poor 0-0 draw at home to Everton to fall further behind run-away leaders Liverpool. We managed to get back to winning ways with a 5-1 win at Crystal Palace last weekend but the Merseysiders are still six points ahead with a game in hand.

While we’ve had our fair share of bad luck this season, particularly in terms of decisions and injuries to key players, Arne Slot’s men seem to be having the rub of the green. No key players have been injured [yet] and things just appear to be going their way. A prime example was they got to play a severely understrength Tottenham side on Sunday – who were without their best goalkeeper and two best central defenders. The result was Liverpool cut Spurs open at will, and ran out 6-3 winners in North London. If Tottenham had Vicario, Romero and Van de Ven playing, it would have been a much harder game for Liverpool and it wouldn’t have been a surprise if they dropped points.

This isn’t the only example, as Arsenal’s defence was severely depleted when we played Liverpool as well. Already without William Saliba though a dubious suspension, while deservedly leading 2-1, we lost both Gabriel Magalhaes and Jurrien Timber to injuries, and Liverpool took full advantage to salvage an undeserved draw. I’m in no doubt we’d have beaten Liverpool with our strongest defence available.

Liverpool’s year?

This is not taking anything away from them, as Liverpool are a top side with a dangerous attack full of options, but you kind of get the feeling it’s ‘their year’ in the Premier League. It would take a monumental collapse for the Reds to lose the title from this position at Christmas. Even if they do suffer a dramatic drop-off in form, are Arsenal best placed to take advantage?

We’ve dropped so many silly points already this season, and I had hoped we could replicate the kind of form we produced during the second half of last season. However, news that Bukayo Saka is out for around 2 months with a hamstring injury has come as a devastating blow. He could miss 10 league games, including matches against Tottenham, Man City and Aston Villa. Saka is arguably our most important player and it’s going to be extremely difficult to cope without him for such a prolonged period.

I really don’t see Arsenal being able to go on a 10-game winning run to close the gap on Liverpool without our starboy. So as much as I hate to say it, I’d say our title dreams hang in the balance right now. Obviously Man City have endured a torrid campaign and it’s highly unlikely they’ll recover to clinch a fifth straight title. Therefore, if Liverpool do collapse, Chelsea are the best placed to take advantage. They have the squad depth to cope with injuries and look the real deal under Maresca.

Should Arsenal focus on the Champions League?

Given how difficult it’s going to be to claw our way back into the title race, I’d argue that Mikel Arteta should focus on Europe now. Arsenal sit third in the Champions League table with games against Dinamo Zagreb and Girona left to play. We should finish in the top eight to make it through to the round of 16. I’m not saying fans should be running out to buy UEFA Champions League final tickets just yet, but there is a real argument that we could go all the way this yet.

By the time Saka returns at the end of February, our Premier League hopes could be over. However, he should be back just in time to play in our Champions League knockout games – which will start on March 4/5th if we make it straight through to the last-16. Therefore, Saka may only miss two group games, which we should win without him.

Our starboy will be back just in time to go full pelt in the Champions League and there is no reason to think we can’t go far in that competition. With City a total mess and struggling down in 22nd place in the Champions League table, Real Madrid not clicking with Kylian Mbappe yet, and Barcelona also hitting a terrible run of form, there are few stand out clubs in Europe’s elite competition. Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, PSG and AC Milan also sit outside the top eight and some could fail to make it through the play-offs stages.

So the competition is wide open this season, and Arsenal could take advantage if we focus on winning the Champions League this campaign. There aren’t many teams to fear once we get our full squad back together with Saka returned to full fitness. Liverpool are probably the favourites given their superb form across all competitions – also sitting top of the Champions League table – but it’s highly unlikely Slot will be able to guide them to a league and Champions League double in his first season. As they have such a commanding lead in the Premier League, you’d assume they’ll focus on domestic matters.

Arsenal have never won the Champions League, but we may not have a better chance to go all the way than this season. Obviously we should see how things go over the coming weeks, but if we don’t cut away at Liverpool’s lead by the time March comes round, Arteta should throw everything at winning the European Cup.