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Are Arsenal UEFA Champions League Dark Horses?
After being given a favourable draw in the group stages, Arsenal could be the dark horses in the Champions League this season.
Last season was a strange one for Arsenal fans. They had their most successful Premier League campaign since the days of Arsene Wenger, but rival supporters were still slandering them and their supposed ‘bottling’ of the title race. As any Gooner will tell you, if you’d have offered them a spot in the Champions League and were genuine title contenders for the first time in what feels like an eternity, they’d have snapped your hand off. However, this season, there are heightened expectations, and justifiably so.
The North London outfit spent over £200m in the summer with the aim of narrowing the gap to Manchester City.
Steady Start to New Season Gathers Pace
After seven games of the new top-flight campaign, English Premier League odds providers currently make the Gunners 5/1 second-favourites for the first title in two decades. Pep Guardiola’s unstoppable juggernaut is the clear 4/7 favourite, however, their recent slip-up at Wolverhampton Wanderers has proven that the Blues are beatable. Mikel Arteta’s men meanwhile have had a couple of slip-ups of their own already this term.
Arsenal have twice thrown away victories from winning positions already this term, and both times came on home turf at the Emirates. A late João Palhinha equaliser secured a point for Fulham on August 26th, while a brace from Son Heung-Min was enough to steal a share of the spoils for archrivals Tottenham Hotspur in the recent North London derby. But a 4-0 drubbing of Bournemouth on September 30th coupled with a first goal in Arsenal colours for one of their new signings has Gooners dreaming of a prosperous campaign.
Those dreams shouldn’t solely be limited to the Premier League, though.
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) October 2, 2023
Favourable Group Stage Draw Renews Triggers Continental Aspirations
The draw for the UEFA Champions League group stages came back on August 31st and having featured in the Europa League for each of the last five seasons, a spot amongst the second seeds was the best the North London outfit could manage.
That opened them up to be drawn against some of European football’s heavyweights such as Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, however, it was the current Europa League holders Sevilla that Arsenal were drawn alongside. Add to that Ligue 1 runners-up Lens and Dutch outfit PSV Eindhoven, and the Gunners were suddenly huge favourites to top their group.
The problem with Arsenal’s last few trips to the most elite dining table in European football was the fact that they were unable to top their group. Between 2011 and 2017, they were eliminated in the second round of the Champions League in seven consecutive seasons. In five of those seasons, they finished as group runners-up, setting them on a collision course with the likes of Bayern Munich – three times in a row, no less – and Barcelona.
This year though, the Gunners have no excuse to not top their group, and should they manage that, a favourable last-16 tie will await. From there, they will suddenly find themselves in the quarter-finals, and if they manage to win that tie against what will probably be their first big-name opponents of the competition, who knows what is possible.
