Arsenal's Champions League Draw: Celebrations in North London?

I promise you one thing: the other Premiership teams are jealous.

In the last decade, Arsenal have faced mediocre opponents in the group stage of the Champions League, and have had good luck in advancing, often making the quarter-finals and beyond.

This season is shaping up in a similar fashion, with one ESPN pundit claiming that Arsenal are “sitting pretty” in Group H with Dutch champions AZ Alkmaar, Greek mainstay Olympiakos, and  Belgian leaders Standard Liege.

Everyone who knows Arsenal are thinking the exact same thing: celebrations are due in North London!

I say this with a grim smile, knowing the lack of recent league silverware at the Emirates, but this is one of the easier draws any English team will ever see. Standard Liege and Alkmaar have both performed admirably in their leagues, but to compare either the Belgian Jupiler League or the Dutch Eredivisie to the Premiership would be nothing short of a travesty.

The top flight of English football has proven itself to be the class of European football in recent years, not only in the level of competition within the league, but also on the Champions League stage.

Despite the trophy currently being held in Spanish hands, mainland giants Barcelona, AC Milan, and Real Madrid have been among the teams stung by the English “Big Four”.

In Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Arsenal we see four dominant sides, and this year’s North London squad has displayed little in the way of disappointment to their fans.

Not only have they yet to be shut out, they’ve shown talented opponents like Celtic FC and Everton that they can score at will, even on difficult away grounds. Did I mention Arsenal was the first side to beat Celtic at home in European competition in over a dozen years? I’ve yet to verify this in the record books, but this comes from multiple sources as being correct, and I recall recent Barca and Inter defeats in Glasgow that support this claim.

This year’s Arsenal may be a young squad, but they’ve already shown much promise with a new 4-3-3 formation that closely resembles the 2007-09 Barcelona setup, and is equal parts defensively balanced and strategically aggressive.

The smaller teams in Alkmaar and Standard Liege, while more than respectable in both player quality and league results, will have their hands full in trying to control a powerful Arsenal midfield, particularly with a rejuvenated Diaby and everyone’s favorite skipper, Fabregas, in command.

Despite the forward-thinking formation, the majority of the goals this year have come via the midfield position. Strikers have not been left out in the cold, however, with dozens of chances coming compliments of hard work by Van Persie, Bendtner, and Eduardo, among others.

As an aside, Eduardo’s penalty kick against Celtic was the result of a dive. Yes, he dived. No, it’s not excusable, even for an Arsenal player. With that in mind, has the press bitten so hard on disgustingly blatant dives by Stevie Gerrard or pretty boy Ronaldo in years past?

No.

Had it been a 2-1 aggregate, it would have been far more criminal. But it wasn’t, so enough said.

Olympiakos, in my opinion, are the only squad that could give the young Gunners any trouble. They have talent, experience, and a lot of matches logged in European play. Not only are they a regular in Champions League play, but along with Panathanaikos, have proven that the elite Greek squads can compete.

Although they’ve only escaped group play once (1998-99), the Greeks could yet show the world that they belong beyond the group rounds, sporting a solid back four as well as talented young attackers in Diogo Santos and Konstantinos Mitroglou, age 22 and 21, respectively.

Admittedly, I don’t know as much about the other two clubs, though AZ has had moderate European success, particularly for a Dutch team. With Ajax, Feyenoord, and PSV all claiming European championships in the past, Alkmaar will want to get itself on the list. Despite having little international silverware to show for themselves, they remain dangerous to underestimate.

Standard Liege, on the other hand, have seen a considerable amount of time in European play (UEFA Cup, CL, and the Winners’ Cup), so don’t count them out. Arsenal will have their hands full, and shouldn’t bet on playing down to either teams’ level, as they have in the past against inferior teams (think Tottenham, 2008-09...as painful as that may be).

Despite these upcoming challenges, Arsenal should be set to jump in against the likes of Barca, Inter, and the Premiership giants for a chance at the CL semis and eventually the final.

While the two favorites remain Real Madrid and Man United, the Gunners seem to have a real shot at making a run to the top, both in league and Europe, where they’ve seen considerable success in recent years.

Best of luck to the young Gunners, and in Arsene we trust.