Just published in the 100 Years of Chapman series:
By Tony Attwood
Of course I knew a win was possible, and ought to happen, but Arsenal are still not the absolutely finished article, yet even with another youngster in the team, we sailed through with no problem, and are now third in the Champions League table, in which the top eight all qualify for the knock out stages automatically.
Who would have thought it after the opening goalless draw and the n a couple of games after, the defeat to Inter? And as you gaze for a moment in relief at the league table, we might pause and wonder where a few other teams are now.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 1 | +12 | 18 |
| 2 | Barcelona | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 7 | +14 | 15 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 2 | +9 | 13 |
| 4 | Bayer Leverkusen | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 13 |
| 5 | Aston Villa | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 13 |
| 6 | Inter Milan | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 13 |
| 7 | Brest | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 6 | +4 | 13 |
| 8 | Lille | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 13 |
And incidentally apologies for the late arrival of this post. The traffic coming out of London wasn’t so good and so we were a little late getting back, and clearly my mental state must have been one of sublime happiness because when I finally made it to the Midlands I fell asleep and stayed asleep until I found it was way past getting up time. Ah well, the problem with getting old!
But the fact is Arsenal are third in a bunch of teams of 13 points, with four teams just behind on 12. So it is not done and dusted, but we might note there are some pretty big names not where they want to be or where they think they ought to be.
Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, Juventus, Real Madrid, (who are 20th), and the almighty Manchester City (22nd); each would expect to be doing better by now.
Of course, they will all have their chance in the play off round, which I am hoping Arsenal will avoid (the top eight going straight through). But even that is more than can be said for Paris St Germain who as things stand will drop out of the Champions League totally, and not even have (under the new regulations) a Europa League to fall back into. For them, it is the old adage of “being able to focus on the (French) League”.
So it is now Dinamo Zagreb away, and Girona at home for the final two matches to secure the top-eight finish. Dinamo are 24th in the League and thus just scraping into the final place for the play off round thus far, having gained eight points from six games, and Girona are 30th, with having won one and lost five.
Quite how Manchester City (whose owners also own Girona) can play in the same competition as Girona is beyond me, but maybe the agreement was that Girona would drop out after the first eight games to give ManC a free run, and so that would be all right really.
So this is all looking rather fine to me, and with those games not being played until the end of January, we can have a happy Christmas knowing that all is looking set fair for more European football not just in the early new year, but at least a bit longer.
And what this now means is that since that defeat to Inter in early November (and let us not forget it was away, and just 1-0) Arsenal have played seven games. Five have been won and two have been draws. The two draws were against Chelsea and Fulham, and both were away from home, and both caused the pundits to say Arsenal were simply not functioning. In those seven games, Arsenal have scored 20 goals and conceded five, which by my reckoning is not bad, all things considered.
There are still many people of course stating that Arsenal are coming unstuck, and not maintaining the form of the last two campaigns, and this is even with most of the team not really performing at the highest level (according to the pundits). This is what Sky Sports awarded the players last night….
Raya (6), Partey (6), Saliba (6), Kiwior (7), Lewis-Skelly (8), Rice (6), Merino (6), Odegaard (7), Saka (8), Jesus (6), Martinelli (6).
If we can saunter through European matches with a novice 18 year in the team and most of the rest of the squad hardly performing at a reasonable level (according to the Sky ratings above) just think what we can do when they are playing well.
We are at home to Zagreb and away to Girona , so Just a warning to those travelling to Barcelona and catching the train to check Spain’s new rules on entry . You don’t want to arrive and be refused entry or even delayed and miss the game.