Morning all.
Not the best of FA Cup Finals I’ve ever watched but what a superb way for Leicester City to beat Chelsea. A wonderful strike by Youri Tielemans which Kepa had no chance of stopping. The goal wasn’t as good as the ‘It’s only Ray Parlour” or Freddie Ljungberg’s when we defeated Chelsea in the FA Cup Final but then I’m probably biased. I must admit, I didn’t think Chelsea’s very late equaliser should have been ruled offside but those kind of decisions have been made all season. Hopefully by the time next season kicks off, a more sensible offside rule will be in place. Anyway, we’ll done to Brendan Rogers and his players for winning the clubs first ever FA Cup. Next year, I hope we’re back at Wembley once more.
The FA Cup winners automatically qualify for the Europa Cup but if Leicester City secure a top four place, I’m pretty sure the Europa Cup place is awarded to the next place in the League. In other words, 5th and 6th place in the PL will be in Europa next season as long as Leicester don’t drop out of the Champions League places.
West Ham dropped two points at Brighton yesterday afternoon which is good for us and we could really do with both Wolves and Sheffield Utd winning their matches later today too. I still think we’ll get to next Sunday thinking, “if only” and there’s been so many. Leicester at home and Wolves away are the fixtures which stick in my mind as we should have won them both. We certainly created enough opportunities to win them, in fact both games could so easily have been all but over by halftime but we couldn’t score for toffee. But that’s been the story of the season really, that and costly individual errors.
Still, this season is soon to end and in August we start all over again, probably, or rather hopefully, with a a different looking squad. NewsNow headlines suggest both Leno and Xhaka hope to follow Luiz out the door which if true means we’ll certainly see a new goalkeeper arrive during the closed season and in all likelihood, a midfielder too. I’ll actually be sorry to see Xhaka leave because there’s no doubting his intentions as an Arsenal player.
It looks like we’ll still have the same owners though as the new campaign kicks off.
Well, if the Kroenke’s aren’t in need of the money, or unwilling to sell to someone who might show more ambition for the club, then let’s see them show a bit more ambitious than they have done thus far. If FFP is to be relaxed again this summer then they to back Mikel Arteta in the transfer window. As said before, it’s likely one or two academy players will help bolster the squad but in the key positions, like both fullback and central midfield if Xhaka does depart, I think Arsenal need strong players. Good or even great players. Sales will help generate funds, but if it comes to the club being a few million short of getting the player Mikel Arteta needs to improve our chances of returning to the top four, then he has to dig deep and come up with the money.
I’ve waffled on too long, probably even repeated myself but who cares?
See you in the comments.
That’s a pretty depressing statement from Daniel Ek.
Put bluntly, “This week I made an offer to Josh Kroenke and their bankers” They replied that “They don’t need the money”. I respect their decision but remain interested.
I guess that’s it as far as the Kroenkes selling up is concerened, unless Daniel Ek is prepared to up the anti.
Hi Rico and all If Kroenke doesn’t give Arteta the money to buy new players I can can see the protest signs all ready ( KSE have money but not for Arsenal ) or ( Walmart were charity starts at KSE )
Hi Geoff, all.
Or the fans up the anti Cicero.
Update from the Guardian.It’s believed if EK was to up his opening offer to £2 billion the krankies would listen/ bite? Elk is believed to be receptive to this.We wait with baited breath……
We can but hope…
Thanks for the post Rico, yeah Leicester qualify for the Europa League, but look set to go into the Champions League so that spot will go to the clubs finishing 5th and 6th in the table, which could well be Chelsea and wouldn’t that be sweet irony… 😃
I’d like to see KSE go big in the market but I don’t want anyone at the club talking about war chests etc or else we’ll be ripped off again and I’m sick of that. Don’t talk about it just do it.
I also don’t want us in europe next season, I want us to go big for the top four next season and being out of europe will almost certainly help.
If players don’t want to join us because of that then so be it, they’re not the type we want anyway, we pay good money and that should be enough.
I’d love to see it Kev.
Agree re less of the talk and more action. I recall the year someone at the club said we could anyone bar Messi and Ronaldo. I think we ended up with just Cech….
Let’s just hope we can get all the deals done early so the new players get a chance to settle in before the season starts
Good afternoon Rico and all
Kev….if Chelsea win the Champions league then the top 4 and Chelsea (5th) will be in the Champions league and the teams finishing 6th and 7th will go in Europa league. I get your reasoning that we would be better off without European cups for a season but will accept that myself if the high earning foreigners leave the club while AMN, Willock, Nelson are kept and get enough game time. Leno, Xhaka, Bellerin, Luiz, Willian, Kolasinac, Ceballos, Odegaard need to go.
Azeez is going to be given a place in senior squad. That is a plus.
I do not like the idea of Bissouma with Partey and Elneny ad back up. They are going off to ACON and that means the entire midfield. Plus Auba of course. SAF put a stop to that when it disrupted his season. We are not different.
Don’t forget there’s the Euros Geoff. Many players will have a shortened pre season.
Afternoon Devil.
Well done to the women – 9-0 winners! Montemurro signed off in style! Thank you, Joe 👏
Gosh, that is a sign off in style..
Hope we can put half as many past Palace on Wednesday.
Evening Rico and the House
Just catching Up
Chavs lost then. Not their weekend for big cup finals. Shame. Still Arsenal are the only English winners of the European Cup.
I’m happy about that. Ha ha ha.
Are you sure DG?
I think what happens is if Chelsea finish say 5th and win the Champions League final that they’ll go into the CL obviously and the team that finishes 4th goes into the Europa?
Kev I agree with you about Europe next season we will have less pressure on the players and coach and there for just concentrate of finishing around 4th place and also win The FA Cup.
Rico I forgot about the euro’s, I just don’t want us buying players at the very last minute and not giving the player and his family time to settle in England when he should be concentrating on playing football
Here you go.
If a club win the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League and finish in the top four, their qualification for the UCL through their league position is not transferred to another team.
A maximum of five Premier League teams are eligible for UEFA Champions League qualification.
In the event that a Premier League club win the UEFA Champions League and another win the UEFA Europa League and neither of these clubs finish in the top four of the Premier League, the club lying fourth in the table will drop into the UEFA Europa League group stage.
If a Premier League club win the UEFA Champions League and another win the UEFA Europa League and neither have qualified for UEFA competitions through their league positions or by winning the FA Cup or EFL Cup, they will qualify for the UEFA Champions League and the club finishing fourth in the table will drop into the UEFA Europa League group stage.
Thanks Rico, so yes DG, you are right, if Chelsea finish 5th and win the Champions League the 4th placed team does qualify as Man City won the League Cup and are in the CL and Man Utd are in the Champions League by finishing 2nd. So European places could go down to 8th if Chelsea wins, but if Chelsea finish 4th and Leicester 5th then it’s back to 7th again.
I think I’ve got that right – but who knows?
Clear as mud Kev. Lol
https://highbury-house.com/2021/05/17/would-ryan-bertrand-be-a-good-addition/
New post up now.