Bob Foard
Things are tough for Arsenal right now. After crashing out of the Champions League at the second round stage for the seventh time in a row – this time suffering a 10-2 aggregate loss at the hands of Bayern Munich – The Gunners slipped to sixth in the table, some 19 points off Chelsea. Their only chance of silverware is the FA Cup, but is that enough to put a smile on Arsenal fans’ faces? Or manager Arsene Wenger’s, for that matter?
The season actually began quite well for the north Londoners. Arsenal only suffered one defeat in their first 15 Premier League games and, by their recent standards, they reached the knockout round of the Champions League comfortably. Alexis Sanchez was having his best season in front of goal, scoring 12 in his first 16 games, and there was genuine talk of landing the title for the first time since 2004. But in a seven-week spell between December and February, costly defeats to Everton, Manchester City, Watford and Chelsea saw their title hopes evaporate before Bayern crushed them in Munich and at The Emirates.
All their hopes are now pinned on the FA Cup. Arsenal won the famous trophy in 2014 and 2015 and much of their squad can still remember what it’s like to lift the prize at Wembley. They now face Manchester City in the semi-final on 23 April. At this stage in 2014 and 2015, The Gunners beat Wigan and Championship Reading respectively, so this year the step up in class is obvious. Arsenal haven’t beaten City since 2015 and are underdogs to win the trophy outright at odds of 4/1 according to 888Sport, going into the semi-final. Pep Guardiola also outwitted Wenger when he was manager at Bayern and Barcelona, so he knows what it takes to get the better of an Arsenal team in a big cup competition. If they do manage to see off City, then London rivals Chelsea or Tottenham will await them in the final. So for all the talk of prioritising the FA Cup, the task of getting their hands on it remains a daunting one.
Of course there’s no cup on offer for finishing in the top four of the Premier League – just the lucrative shot at Champions League glory again in 2017-18. Arsenal have qualified for Champions League football for 19 seasons under Wenger, a record no other English club can touch in the last 20 years, but this year they are in real doubt of not playing with Europe’s big boys come September. They remain outside the top four, with Liverpool and Man. United seemingly in better shape to take fourth spot behind Chelsea, Tottenham and City. That would be a crushing blow to the club and surely be the signal for Wenger to walk away. Lack of Champions League action could also mean Sanchez and Mesut Ozil look elsewhere and agitate for transfers.
Winning the FA Cup would restore some faith in the club for Arsenal’s unhappy supporters, but those fans also want Champions League fixtures to mark up in their diaries. Having both wishes seems highly unlikely right now.
