Three reasons we should be prioritizing the Premier League title rather than the UCL.
This has been a minor topic for debate since the start of the campaign with some sections of the fanbase wanting us to prioritize winning the Premier League rather than making a maiden Champions League win.
At the very start of the season I was favouring towards the UCL and, quite frankly, why wouldn’t I? The trophy that has eluded this club since our inception is something every gooner would love for us to lift sooner rather later, because a club of our stature being without that trophy for this long is bordering on being abnormal.
Midway through the season however and with a brand new perspective, I think Arsenal should be prioritizing the PL and for these following three reasons in particular:
- Our shortcomings in PL in the last two seasons: After suffering heartbreaks in consecutive seasons, it would only make sense that we make sure our efforts don’t go unrewarded for long especially considering the fact that we’ve made steady improvements in each of them. Not trying to give it another 100% for the League this campaign will mean that we’re practically giving up on a quest we’ve been on for the last two years now, this will give our rivals a type of satisfaction no gooner would want them to feel for long, so therefore we should prioritize winning the PL.
- Winning the Champions League will need more experience: this was something that was brutally on display in the knockout stages of the competition last season, we simply don’t have enough experience in the UCL, especially away from home, to mount a pretty substantial push for the trophy this season. I do hope I’m proven wrong at the end of the season but by just looking at our away form in Europe, you cannot help but think that this team is simply not ready yet for a Champions League win. Which is why we should prioritize winning the PL instead because of the added experience that win will add to our squad.
- The new Champions League format will make it even more difficult: this season saw the introduction of a new league phase format replacing the group format that has been in place for a while now. This new league format meant that the number of participants were increased from 32 to 36 for this campaign which understandably makes the competition harder. However it is not the only reason, the league format in itself will make it harder because only the top 8 teams get to qualify directly for the knockout stages, with teams from 9th to 16th playing a playoff to fill up the remaining 8 spots, this will mean having to play a large amount of games agaisnt really tough opposition, and that will make winning the trophy a very tough prospect.
Every Arsenal fan would like us to win both. However we all know that it is pretty unrealistic which means we’ll have to prioritize one, and that should be the Premier League without a shadow of a doubt.
This might sound a bit contrary, but I’m curious gooners, what are our chances of actually managing to achieve a historic double this campaign?
KENNETH BENJAMIN.