How Arsenal can qualify UEFA Europa Conference League

Everyone who insists that Arsenal can’t qualify for European competition next season is sorely mistaken. Why be so defeatist with the shiny new UEFA Europa Conference League still firmly up for grabs? It’s well within the Gunners’ sights.

Whether they want it is another matter.

After bowing out of the Europa League to Villarreal and surrendering any hope of a decent Premier League finish by being hopelessly inconsistent and generally weak in every department, Arsenal look destined for their first campaign without European football in 25 years. Mathematically nothing is set, but we all know it is.

Hence why UEFA have decided to bail the Gunners out with their Europa Conference League that is being introduced this summer, acting as the third tier of club competition on the continent and following the usual format starting with eight groups of four teams.

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How Arsenal can qualify UEFA Europa Conference League as Tottenham are also in the hunt

Some supporters call the Carabao Cup a ‘Mickey Mouse’ competition. We have a new winner.

At the time of writing, Tottenham will ‘qualify’ for the UECL as they currently occupy seventh place in the Premier League. England’s representative was originally penciled in to be the Carabao Cup winners, which Manchester City won, and they’re in the Champions League.

Therefore, the winner of the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Leicester will help determine who earns a place. If the winners of that final also finish inside the top six then whoever is in seventh enters the UECL. It looks likely both finalists will, meaning seventh will enter final round of qualifiers next season.

As stated that is Sp*rs, who are four points ahead of Arsenal. In a season with nothing left to play for, finishing above the local rivals and being able to emptily celebrate St. Totteringham’s Day is about all there is left to aim for.

Would it be worth it? A lot can still change in the league and naturally finishing higher up the table – preferably not in the bottom half – sets some tone for next season, but the UECL is an unnecessary embarrassment that the club does not need.

It’s not what was desired, but with the breaks in between Premier League fixtures full attention can turn to a strong league campaign – one where Mikel Arteta will have nowhere to hide.

Finishing below Sp*rs isn’t fun. Ever. They’ve finished above Arsenal in the last four seasons which looks set to be five this term and if surpassing them in the division comes at the cost of playing the likes of Universitatea Craiova (really) and Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino (really) on Thursday nights then biting the bullet is preferable.

Arsenal can’t just abandon the league, though. This isn’t an invitation to not turn up for the next three fixtures, it’ll just be best if Everton and Arsenal keep winning while Tottenham bottle the final run-in, meaning we get the best of both worlds. Heck, something to play for.