It’s that time of the year to start asking the question, the annual consideration that befalls the Big Six side(s) which failed to make the Champions League.
So, Arsenal. Top-four chasing, off-to-a-fast-start Arsenal. It’s your turn… Is the Europa League really worth your while?
For sure, this very deliberation demeans the competition. Thousands of clubs the continent over would give anything for a shot at Uefa’s second-tier cup, which in turn offers the winner a place in the Champions League, but for a select few it represents a 15-match (maybe more) slog with only a high-risk reward obtainable at the very end of it – besides the joy of The Journey.
Arsenal learned this the hard way back in 2019. Having missed out on fourth by a point to rivals Tottenham, with four defeats in their final seven Premier League games proving to be their downfall, the Gunners at least had the cushion of a Europa League final, where victory would have booked them a Champions League spot after all.
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Manchester United would perhaps argue differently, having slipped to sixth domestically before winning the Europa League in 2017 to reach the Champions League, but rather than making this call relatively late on – which Jose Mourinho appeared to do as the prospect of fourth slipped away – on this occasion Arsenal can make an early judgement on whether to take the tournament seriously.
Heading into Friday’s Europa League draw, Arsenal are in Pot 1 based on their Uefa coefficient, meaning Spanish sides Real Sociedad and Real Betis are among the toughest opponents they could face in the group stages.
Arsenal are also the tournament favourites, and while they will be expected to top their group, their greatest challenge could come from the names that drop down from the Champions League for the knockout stages.
This will all depend on how Mikel Arteta approaches the Europa League, and his starting XIs in the first few group games could be telling in this regard. With the World Cup condensing the group stages – Matchday 1 is on 8 September and Matchday 6 on 3 November – the rate of games will come thick and fast, and the Arsenal boss is unlikely to stick with his favoured Premier League XI when it comes to other competitions.
Of course, he would expect a squad of this depth to get them through the groups regardless, but a brilliant start to their Premier League campaign adds another layer of intrigue to this original question.
It is therefore difficult to picture Gabriel Jesus making the trip to a far-flung club only to sit on the bench, while the same could be argued for any of their current starters, as right now the prospect of their top-four bid getting derailed by an injury in the Europa League strikes as a gamble not worth taking.
Recent history is also against Europa League-playing teams reaching the top four, with only Manchester United (twice) and Chelsea able to combine a deep run in that tournament with a top-four finish in the Premier League during the past five seasons.
Arsenal went close in 2019, but in 2018 and 2021 runs to the Europa League semis resulted in sixth and eighth-place finishes respectively, signalling the true difficulty of this juggling act – one made tougher this season by the World Cup and the prospect of other clubs knocking on the door.
The onus will be on Arteta to handle this issue, which after all is nothing new, while for the group stages at least they will know that their Champions League-playing rivals above them are in the same boat.
The same all applies for Arsenal’s Europa League pals Manchester United, too, lest we forget, but it may take more than a win over Liverpool before they are considered top-four contenders who are better off tanking the Europa League as well.
We can revisit that notion in a few months’ time.
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