Arsenal’s best Europa League path explored as Man United and Barcelona face early elimination. Man United and Barcelona are slated for early elimination, thus Arsenal’s best Europa League strategy is analysed.
Today’s Europa League matches include some tantalising knockout play-off matches.
Arsenal will be watching events evolve over the next week and will soon know their opponents for the round of 16 stages, since topping their group before Christmas comes with the added bonus of avoiding a play-off tie as the action starts in a few hours.
Mikel Arteta’s determination to designate strong starting lineups during the group stage has been validated.
However, despite their place in the Premier League rankings, the Spaniard will be curious to see which teams advance because the Europa League gives another trophy potential.
According to UEFA rules, Arsenal will be seeded for the 16 draws next Friday, which means they will only face one of the eight unseeded knockout round play-off winners.
They cannot, however, face PSV Eindhoven since they were in the same group, or Manchester United because they are from the same national association.
The outstanding matchup is without a doubt Barcelona vs. Manchester United.
The Catalan giants were promoted to the Europa League after coming third in their Champions League group. Still, the Red Devils ended second behind Real Sociedad despite winning all but one of their six games.
As a result, an early exit from Manchester United may be the better option of the two.
After all, Arsenal knows what it’s like to lose to an English team in a Europa League final, and they could exact some vengeance on Barcelona from the 2006 Champions League final.
In other matches, Jose Mourinho’s Roma meets Red Bull Salzburg, and there are some intriguing links between Bayer Leverkusen and AS Monaco, as well as Sevilla and PSV Eindhoven.
It would be intriguing to see how Shakhtar Donetsk progresses, particularly given the January transfer window debacle with Mykhailo Mudryk.
In a perfect world, Juventus and Ajax would be defeated by Nantes and Union Berlin, respectively, making the Gunners’ path to the final somewhat smoother, at least on paper.
However, because it has been six years since the north London club has competed in Europe’s best club competition, they may wish to put themselves to the test.
As a result, an early exit from Manchester United may be the better option of the two.
After all, Arsenal knows what it’s like to lose to an English team in a Europa League final, and they could exact some vengeance on Barcelona from the 2006 Champions League final.
Other intriguing matches include Bayer Leverkusen vs. AS Monaco and Sevilla vs. PSV Eindhoven.
If Shakhtar Donetsk progresses, especially after the January transfer window story with Mykhailo Mudryk, it will be interesting.
In an ideal world, Juventus and Ajax would be defeated by Nantes and Union Berlin, respectively, making the Gunners’ path to the final somewhat simpler.
However, given that it has been six years since the north London club last competed in Europe’s best club competition, they may wish to put themselves to the test.