The Gunners have breezed
through their opening two group games and given the standard of
opposition should really win it outright
Arsenal's
best chance of qualifying for next season's Champions League is
undoubtedly by winning the Europa League at the end of the campaign. If
current evidence is anything to go on, they are far too good not to.
Arsene
Wenger' fielded a second-string side for the second consecutive group
game as they scored four to beat a BATE Borisov. The Belarusian side are
no slouches and they've beaten the likes of Athletic Bilbao, Bayern
Munich and Roma in recent seasons, but for the most part the Gunners
were utterly dominant.
Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud led the way with three of the four
goals while inexperienced trio Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson and Ainsley
Maitland-Niles rarely put a foot wrong as they gave travelling
supporters reason to believe the current batch of academy graduates have
what it take to establish themselves in the first team in years to
come.
Rustiness was to be expected considering most of those
players on rarely get a full 90 minutes under their belts in the Premier
League, but as Arsenal sharpen up in the competition, the likes of
Giroud, Walcott and Mohamed Elneny could provide a crucial spine to
Wenger's ambition of winning a European trophy.
While it may not be the Champions League or the Premier League that
Wenger craves, it is vital that Wenger prioritises the Europa League
over the FA Cup and Carabao Cup this season. Manchester United showed
last season that winning the Europa League can be a springboard to
better times ahead, and with Arsenal outsiders at most to win the league
title, picking up silverware on the continent is the next best thing.
It's
likely to be Arsenal's easiest path into the Champions League and the
Gunners cannot afford to miss out on £50 million where economic benefits
are concerned. BATE, FC Koln and Red Star Belgrade are by no means
mammoth opponents but they are just what Wenger needs at this stage -
team's that his second string can easily match up with.
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