Arsenal: Unai Emery betting the season on the Europa League

Arsenal are done for in the Premier League, barring some obscene stroke of luck, which leaves Unai Emery’s entire season at the whims of the Europa League.

Okay. So I think we’ve all had enough post-Leicester City deep breaths to come back to earth a little bit and look more objectively at the state of this Arsenal season. And while it’s still hideous, and vile, and in some ways impossible to stomach, Unai Emery still has one last card to play to salvage Champions League play.

Barring an obscene stroke of fortune, our hopes of finishing in the top four may well be as good as done. I don’t see it turning around and I refuse to keep expecting the Gunners to step up when I know that they probably won’t, especially if they continue being who they are (meta, right?).

But even if we finish in sixth place, Unai Emery has made is clear that he is aiming for the Europa League. I don’t think it could be made any clearer than starting Shkodran Mustafi in a back four in the Premier League when three points was a necessity. Clearly this manager wants the Europa League more than the top four.

I don’t blame him. And honestly, what would you rather him focus on, a competition he has zero experience in or a competition that he has won in three of the last four years?

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Exactly.

Unai Emery is a Premier League newcomer, but arguably the most respected name in the Europa League. Now granted we don’t want to top out at the Europa League, meaning that Emery is going to have to learn and grow on the job, but there’s time for that as long as we have Champions League football.

I don’t want to jinx the Gunners, because Lord knows they don’t need any help sucking, but the hardest part of the Europa league was Napoli and they couldn’t have looked any more conclusive, winning 3-0 on aggregate in two of the most impressive performances of the season.

Worst case scenario, they have to go through Valencia and then Chelsea. That doesn’t make me shiver in my boots like Wolverhampton and Leicester City did. And that all comes down to form. The Gunners have showcased tremendous form in the Europa League and they haven’t shown anything of the sort in the Premier League.

But that’s what this season is hinging on. It’s hinging on Unai Emery’s sweet spot. So he better be ready to capitalize on that sweet spot and not leave us in the Europa League for another season.