Arsenal are included in the list of top teams with 15 other teams in a release issued by UEFA. The draw for the round of 32 will take place in Nyon, Switzerland this Monday.
England has 4 representatives, namely Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester United and Leicester. Italy has 3 teams, namely AC Milan, AS Roma and Napoli. The Netherlands is represented by Ajax and PSV Eindhoven. Germany with Hoffenheim and Leverkusen clubs. The other teams are Villarreal (Spain), Ranger (Scotland), Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), Club Brugge (Belgium).
Those 16 seeds consist of the group winners in the preliminary round plus 4 third-place teams in the Champions League group. The top teams will not face each other in this round of 32. The top 32 schedule will take place on 18 and 26 February 2021 with a two-match system, namely home and away.
Especially for the Gunners fans, there may be excitement in the midst of their concern. Arsenal qualified for the top 32 of the Europa League and became one of the leading teams. Meanwhile, the concern is Arsenal will not move from the Premier League mid-table.
Currently they are ranked 15th with 13 points with a productivity of minus 4 goals. The position is only 6 points from the relegation gap. This means that if Arsenal lose two games again, they are already in the relegation zone. It is very worrying.
Of the 11 matches that have been undertaken, Arsenal only got 13 points from 4 wins, one draw and the rest they lost. The four wins came from Fulham, West Ham, Sheffield United and Manchester United.
While their 6 defeats, three of them by top clubs, namely Tottenham, Leicester and Liverpool. Their performance during the Premier League competition is still being thoroughly evaluated by the coaching team. Their manager Mikel Arteta continues to strive to motivate his squad.
In contrast to their work in the Europa League, Arsenal really triumphed. They managed to get a perfect result in the group phase with six wins with 18 points.
The productivity of his goals is also very fertile, he has scored 20 goals and only 5 goals conceded. Arsenal are in group B along with three other teams namely Molde, Rapid Wien and Dudalk FC. The Gunners beat Rapid Wien (2-1 and 4-1), beat Molde (4-1 and 3-0) and beat Dundalk FC (3-0 and 4-2). A perfect achievement from Mikel Arteta’s side.
Apart from the opponents in the group who are indeed far below Arsenal, the match in the Europa League is not easy because it takes place in the middle of a busy schedule of other competitions. The Europa League has now completed all matches in their group phase. There are 24 teams that qualify for the next phase with 8 third-placed teams from the Champions League.
England will be represented by 4 clubs namely Arsenal, Leicester, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United who have just been eliminated in the Champions League group phase. Apart from United, there are also Ajax who are also eliminated from the Champions League group phase. This time the European League is quite tight in their competition for the trophy.
There are at least three clubs that have won the Champions League trophy, namely AC Milan, Manchester United and Ajax Amsterdam. The presence of these three clubs is of course increasingly a challenge for Arsenal to achieve high achievements in the European League. Mikel Arteta has an increasingly tough task to face these two events, namely the European League and the Premier League.
Currently, waiting for the 32 big draw which will take place in Nyon, Tuesday, December 15 2020 at 18.00, Arsenal’s squad is more focused on facing the Premier League.
Hopefully they can bring the spirit of the Gunners squad in the European League to the Premier League competition. Good luck with Mikel Arteta and his squad.
ASL
