- The Champions League: must it be the same teams all the time?
- Arsenal seem to be favourites but the question is just how far Tottenham can go
By Tony Attwood
As we know, Tottenham Hotspur are supposed to be “up for” big nights in Europe, with the ever-willing media predicting that their next game will be the game where the club turns everything around, and the 11-game winless run will come to an end. But somehow yet again, the media was wrong. One might expect that by now they had learned something but it seems not. The Guardian predicted before the game that “they should be up for big nights in Europe.” As the paper pointed out, “Before the draw, Opta gave them the fifth-best chance (57 per cent) — behind Arsenal, Liverpool, Bayern and Manchester City — of making the quarter-finals.”
Prior to the game, the Guardian also said that “they find themselves on the easier side of the draw.” Although of course the excuses – apparently everything is the fault of injuries, “only add to the doubts swirling around this team.”
Meanwhile of course there is the talk of, “A recent blip in their Premier League form” in relation to Arsenal but at least the paper has the grace to acknowledge that “Arsenal are still the team to beat in Europe’s top five leagues…. and they have shown chinks in their largely impenetrable armour, but this team have scored 101 goals and conceded just 31 in 46 matches in 2025-26.”
It is, of course, possible that the players and management have seen translations of what the papers say about Arsenal, and if so, that might well help us win this game easily. And they might even believe the story that “Manchester City [are] breathing down their necks in the Premier League,” although a glance at the Premier League table shows that the gap is seven points (and a five-goal better goal difference) to ManC in second place. Not to mention and an astonishing 16 points and 26 goals difference to ManU.
We might also add that Arsenal are top of the “last six games” table in the Premier League, with four wins and two draws, and a goal difference of plus 8. We might, but then again, I don’t really want to rub it all in.
But of course, if we do get through this round in Europe today, the media will keep on looking for other ways to say that Arsenal aren’t really that good. As indeed they already are suggesting this, with the New York Times coming up with “Arsenal could not have been handed an easier path towards a first Champions League title…”
Of course, it is true that if nothing goes wrong in this game, Arsenal will then have to play Bodo Glimt or Sporting, but as the media themselves have to say when excusing slips by the likes of Liverpool and ManC, the games still have to be won. Still, at least we know what the media will be saying all the way through the summer if Arsenal do go on and win the Champs League. “They could not have been handed an easier path”. So there we are. No need to read the media anymore.
As for the team MSN take the general view that Merino and Odegaard are still injured, and they add that there are doubts over White, Trossard and Calafiori. And what we can add is the fact that on the 14th – that is just three days away – Arsenal are playing Everton away, before having the return match against Bayer 04 Leverkusen (sorry for miswriting the name on occasions previously, think I have it right now).
So I anticipate a spot of caution in the selection of the line-up, and all being well, a plentiful use of the bench in the second half.
MSN gives us an Arsenal line-up against Bayer Leverkusen of
Raya;
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie;
Zubimendi, Rice;
Saka, Eze, Martinelli;
Gyokeres
Footbal London go with just one change in personnel from that…
Raya;
Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie;
Zubimendi, Rice, Eze;
Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard
while Arsenal News have exactly the same as Football London, and as ever, once we start finding the same predictions in different media, we call it a day on the prediction front. Now all we can do is wait and enjoy.
If you have been reading our predictions, thank you and enjoy the game. We’ll be back tomorrow morning with more thoughts….
