The Benfica games important for Arteta's future

18.02.2021

Pressure on Arteta to deliver in the Europa League.

Written by David Schill

Gooners, it's matchday!

Tonight we will play the first leg against the Portuguese side Benfica in round of 32 in the Europa League. The evening's game will be played in Rome and the second leg (next week), will take place in Athens, Greece.

Tonight's game (8pm kick-off) is massive. We really need a decent result ahead of the second leg next Thursday. In this first leg, we are counted as the away team. So scoring goals today would be great and that would give us a boost going into next week's clash.

Our priority for the remainder of the season must now be the Europa League. Getting Champions League football through the league looks very unlikely at the moment, especially when you're looking at our upcoming games against the likes of Man City, Leicester, Spurs, Liverpool etc. So winning the Europa League should be the top priority and also the most realistic target going into the final months of the 2020/21 season.

To go all the way and win the Europa League trophy is not just important for the Champions League qualification next season, it's also vital for the future of Mikel Arteta. Why? Because we are currently sitting 10th in the league, we've had a terrible season overall so far. If we, at the end of the season, finish in the middle of the PL table and don't manage to win EL, questions will arise whether Arteta is the right man for the job or not.

We all know that the discussion and the debate regarding MA's future already started in November/December when we were in absolutely horrible form. So that's not new to us. But as I said, it's really important that we now perform at our highest level in the Europa League. We can’t afford to get knocked out by Benfica.

But let's be positive and believe in our team. Yes, the Benfica games are important for Mikel Arteta. But I think we have shown recently in our performances that we are a really good team with so many talented youngsters, such as Smith-Rowe and Saka. I think we have a really good chance to win the two legs against Benfica and to go all the way in this tournament.

Hope you enjoyed this blog post. Hope we get a good result tonight.

COYG!