Is Champions League Return Possible For The Gunners?

The topic of Arsenal being able to secure Champions League football evokes strong emotional responses from some football fans.

From a mild laugh or a negative shake of the head to mood swings, this topic is one even those who aren’t fans have an opinion about.

Arsenal lost 2-1 in their opening game of preseason. Although a meaningless game, the defeat got their fans questioning the club’s ability to compete when the season begins.

With a new season on the horizon, Arsenal fans will be hopeful their team has what it takes to compete for trophies and also qualify for the Champions League.

Do they have what it takes though? Let’s take a look at how Arsenal have fared over the last five seasons:

2015/16 season

The Gunners finished second in the Premier League, leapfrogging city rivals Tottenham who finished third. It was a season that saw a lot of the “major clubs” flop and perform way below expectations.

It also saw Leicester City, in just their second season back in the top flight and after sensationally managing to avoid relegation the previous year, go all the way to win the league.

In Europe however, Arsenal exited the Champions League at the round of 16 to Barcelona. This defeat meant the Gunners had succumbed to a sixth successive exit at the round of 16.

2016/17 season

This was Arsenal’s last season in the Champions League as they finished fifth in the Premier League. Local rivals, Chelsea won the Premier League that season.

Arsenal suffered an embarrassing defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League as they were thumped 5-1 over both legs.

That defeat to the Bundesliga giants meant that Arsenal had exited the Champions League at the round of 16 for the seventh consecutive season.

It was perhaps, a sign of the gradual decadence that Arsenal were experiencing should have served as a wake-up call to the Gunners hierarchy to step up and do their homework.

2017/18 season

This season marked the end of the Arsene Wenger era as head coach of Arsenal. Wenger probably bowed to pressure from some of the fans who were calling for change and decided to leave.

Arsenal was one of the last four teams in the Europa League before they were defeated by eventual winners, Atletico Madrid.

In the league, however, Arsenal were not at their best and it was obvious to many that Arsenal would finish sixth. This meant that Arsenal would play in the Europa League for another season.

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2018/19 season

This was a very disappointing season for the Gunners. The season began with the introduction of three-time Europa League winner, Unai Emery, as Arsenal’s new coach.

Arsenal, under the guidance of Emery, finished fifth that season. Arsenal fans found this disappointing because Arsenal were third at an advanced stage of the season.

However, a poor run of form made the side finish one point outside the top four. Arsenal fans were disappointed, but Arsenal had another route to the Champions League.

The Gunners had made it to the Europa final. If they won, they could return to the Champion League. They only had one obstacle, they faced London rivals, Chelsea, in the finals.

After playing out a goalless draw in the first half, Arsenal succumbed to a 4-1 defeat and this only had one implication, they would play miss out on the Champions League for yet another season.

2019/20 season

The highlight of this season was Liverpool’s domination of the Premier League. Arsenal started poorly and after a nine-match winless run, Unai Emery was sacked.

After a few matches with caretaker Freddie Ljungberg in charge, former Arsenal captain, Mikel Arteta was appointed as Arsenal’s head coach.

Despite Arsenal’s football seemingly improving, Arsenal exited the Europa League at the round of 32 and finished 8th in the league but were able to secure a spot in the Europa League with a revenge win against Chelsea in the FA Cup finals.

2020/21 season

Arsenal began the season with a win over Liverpool in the Community Shield. The Gunners’ season was a largely topsy-turvy one. After winning three of their first four games, Arsenal went on a long stretch of games without winning.

Their Europa campaign was also characterized by struggles especially against teams that were deemed to be the ‘smaller’ teams. Arsenal continued to struggle until the chances of securing a European spot grew dim.

Eventually, Arsenal bowed out to eventual winners Villarreal in the Semifinals of the Europa League. The Yellow Submarines were under the tutelage of former coach Unai Emery. Following the defeat, Arsenal were also not able to gain a European Conference spot on the last match day of the season.

Another season is around the corner and it’s left to be seen if the Gunners can break the long wait and actually qualify this time around. Can they do it? Let us know in the comment section.

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