Champions League Stroll in The Park For Arsenal

On Wednesday Arsenal begin their Champions League campaign for another season. Where will this one end? Well it certainly won’t be short lived with an embarrassing exit in the group stages. Arsenal executives, Wenger, the players will already be counting the pennies of another extended run through to the knock-out stages and eying up potential opponents as the draw was certainly very kind to them this year.

The Gunners were seeded in the top pot, a good place to start, but would have been wary of potential pit falls lurking for them in the second pot, a pot that included the likes of Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Juventus, Lyon and Porto. Fortunately for Wenger and co AZ Almaar was paired with Arsenal. The suprise winners of the Dutch league last year make their debut in Europe’s premier competition and enter with just one loss from their last 33 home european games. The Champions League however is wholey different kettle of fish and in Arsenal, Olympiakos and Standard Liege they will face opposition a class above that from which they are used to. To top the dutch league is a decent achievement, overcoming Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord in the process, but even these experienced european giants of the past have struggled in the tougher surroundings of the Champions League. In AZ Alkmaar Arsenal will be very happy, not just that they have avoided some of the bigger clubs from pot two but also because a trip to Holland is a far more welcoming road trip than travelling to Russia, the Ukraine or Turkey for example.

From pot three Arsenal were awarded Olympiakos, another team that won its own domestic league. Once again Wenger will have been happy to avoid some of the stronger clubs in this pot such as Athletico Madrid, Fiorentina, Besiktas and Stuttgart. Again, although Greece is a fair distance, it is far more favourable than being forced to fly to the freezing cold Dynamo Kiev or the couldron that is Besiktas away. Olympiakos will be far from a push over away from home, however, at the Emirates Stadium Arsenal will be expected to win comfortably. Three home wins from three is usually enough to secure passage through to the knockout stages and Arsenal will be confident of picking up at least a point from all of their away fixtures.

To complete the draw Standard Liege of Belgium were added to the group from pot four. Now this will seem, when compared with the other possible opponents spread around the other groups, a difficult draw. Comparitively speaking, yes, that would be true, but even so the chances of Leige causing an upset are slim and Arsenal fans will recall with fond memories the 10-0 demolision of their Belgian counterparts back in 1994 on their way to the European Cup Winners Cup. Fifteen years later three points should not prove much more difficult to come by. Further to that, Belgium is, again, a nice hop-over the channel to the mainland for Arsenal, who will certainly not be collecting too many airmiles in the early stages of this campaign. Manchester United will be looking on in envy whilst they find ways to entertain themselves with tricky away trips to Moscow and Istanbul. Others face challenges in Hungary, Cyprus, Israel, Romania and the Ukraine. Arsenal will be back in London in time for the evening highlights package after they have waltzed to three points in Holland and Belgium, fresh and rested in preparation for the more challenging Premiership workload at the weekends.

Arsenal will see these games as mere warm-ups for the far tougher challenges ahead, and although they should not let complacency take over, they can be confident that should they play to anywhere near their best they will have qualified well before the final game of this initial group stage.