ARSENAL are preparing to dive into a season-defining few days with the Europa League last-16 quickly followed by the North London derby.
In reality, it’s the biggest week since, well, a fortnight ago – when the Gunners edged past Benfica before impressively sweeping aside Leicester.
Mikel Arteta has the squad to compete in both the Premier League and Europa League – he mustn’t sacrifice one of the other yetCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Arsenal, now with a fully fit squad, are able to rotate without weakening significantlyCredit: Getty Images – Getty
But stuttering to a draw against Burnley immediately afterwards encapsulated Mikel Arteta’s season perfectly.
Inconsistency is Arsenal’s toughest opponent right now – and there are many factors causing the problem.
Player error or indiscipline certainly can’t be attributed to Arteta. Neither can bizarre refereeing decisions or harsh VAR calls.
But where the Spaniard must improve is getting his Gunners to come out of the blocks firing, too often they are caught starting too slowly.
Arteta also needs to take a look at how his squad react to poor decisions, settle on a regular central defensive pairing and be a bit more sensible with his substitutions.
So, are the next three matches indeed season defining or is that an over exaggeration?
A lot of that depends on whether the season will be considered a failure if they don’t gain Champions League qualification.
For many Gooners it’s just an aspiration – but others see it as a benchmark.
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Winning the Europa League is now the only route back to Europe’s top table.
Many fans therefore see the continental games as more important than Premier League games, demanding the strongest XI is played on Thursday nights.
I want us to win the Europa League with a passion – but I’m not giving up on Arsenal finishing in a European place in the league.
Many of the sides just above us are equally inconsistent and we play most of them in the coming weeks.
Beating Spurs, West Ham and Liverpool could quite easily see Arsenal sitting pretty in seventh at the beginning of April, with Sheffield United and Fulham to follow.
From my perspective, I want to see Arteta play his strongest XI against Olympiacos and again – with a few tweaks perhaps – on Sunday.
Tottenham are in the same boat as Arsenal – with a convincing win midweek seeing them brimming with confidence for the derby.
Arteta now has a fully fit squad so can rotate without weakening his team, as we saw at Leicester.
I hope beating the teams just above us in the coming weeks, in addition to battling past Olympiacos, might well cause us to see this campaign in a new light.
Yes, we have been inconsistent. Yes, we have lost too many matches. But there are still 11 more to play. That’s 33 points up for grabs.
The top four is little more than a pipe dream now, but the top six would demonstrate progress and European football – albeit not the competition we hoped for.
With a rebuild that needs us to attract new players, positive momentum from now until the end of the season is vital.
For those who would now forsake Premier League position and put all their eggs in the Europa League basket, I say we are not at that stage yet…
At least not until the next season-defining week, anyway.
*Follow Dave Seager on Twitter…
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
