JoeWell it seems I took a short break at the right time. I’m not going to pick apart the Liverpool result in great detail. That’s been done to death already: Arsenal were poor, they were better. That was all she wrote. As we always we go again and on Thursday the success of our season rests on us getting a result at the Emirates against Slavia Prague.
The Europa League is the only thing we’re playing for now. With 8 games to go in the league we sit 9 points behind 5th and 10 behind 4th. It would take something truly remarkable for us to make up that kind of ground in 8 matches, so our best chance of Europe next year is by winning the Europa League.
Coupled with the defeat against Liverpool on Saturday we also lost Kieran Tierney to injury and it looks like we’ve lost David Luiz for the season. When Tierney doesn’t play, our attack down the left just isn’t the same and our options down the side are far from ideal. Add to that the fact that we’re a little in the dark over the fitness of Saka and ESR and an important match on Thursday starts looking very difficult.
As you’d expect Arsenal are heavy favourites to win on Thursday. Being at home on we need to make sure we keep it tight at the back and make the most of the expansive pitch at the Emirates. If we do it right we’ll be halfway there for the return. But Slavia Prague aren’t going to roll over, they’ve already knocked out Leicester and Rangers this season and they’ll fancy their chances against another British side.
A huge week lies ahead, let’s hope the players step up and put Saturday well behind us.
COYG!
-Joe