Sokratis the first of three in at Arsenal? Atletico away goal not such a bad thing?

Morning all.

Before you think I’m going bonkers, of course I’d much rather we were heading to Madrid with a 5-0 advantage and to be honest, we certainly had enough chances to do so but in typical Arsenal style, we conceded a goal late on. But, perhaps all is not lost, not yet anyway.

Since we progressed through the group stage into the knockout rounds, our second leg to each tie has been little short of awful. From the outside looking in, it appeared that complacency had set in, a trait the Arsenal have shown for a number of years now and in the end, we had to scrap in order to get past the opposition.

First up was Ostersunds FK. The first leg was away and we travelled well thumping them 3-0. Job done we all thought as if we can beat them away, we’ll do even better at home. Wrong! Twenty five minutes on the clock and we were already 2-0 down but thanks to Kolasinac, the nerves were calmed when he scored a very important goal.

Next up was AC Milan with the away leg first. 2-0 at the end and similar to Ostersunds really, surely we’d give them a roasting at home. At The Emirates, we were awful and found ourselves 1-0 down before half an hour had passed. A terrible penalty decision went our way and we ended up 3-1 winners but for a while, it really was touch and go.

CSKA Moscow was our next challenge and once again, we conceded an away goal, shortly after Aaron Ramsey had given us the lead. Never fear, we scored another three and ended up taking a good advantage into the away leg. Another awful performance saw us concede two goals. With just half an hour to go in the game, the home team sensed they could cause an upset. Fifteen minutes left and Danny Welbeck scored a crucial goal and the nerves were settled. Aaron Ramsey added a late one to make the scoreline 2-2 but for much of the game, Arsenal looked more than uncomfortable.

The moral of the story is, this team under Arsene Wenger seem to think their job is done just because they’ve scored a few goals in the first leg and that’s regardless of whether the second leg has been at home or away. This time though they’ll head to The Wanda Metropolitano knowing they’re facing a battle. They’ll be no room the slightest sniff of complacency. Wenger should have them motivated for this one that’s for sure. He’ll want to get a positive result in Madrid and so will his players if they really want him to leave on a good note.

Mourinho has been spouting a load of garbage about regrets. The words he’s fired at Wenger over the years is something he now wishes he’d not said but it’s too late. He’s a ghastly man with a massive ego but one Arsene Wenger should forget about tomorrow. The game means nothing so write it off before we even go there. The trip to Spain on Thursday is far more important.

Transfer gossip:

Sokratis Papastathopoulo Is heading to Arsenal in the summer according to reports in Germany. The 29, soon to be 30 year old Greek international Dortmund defender is out of contract in the summer of 2019 so the club want to cash in on him before he walks for free. Bild report that Sven Mislintat is behind the potential move. Mislintat is said to be eyeing up three players this summer  with a goalkeeper, centre-back and central midfielder all heading our way.

Arsene Wenger has been offered £24 million a year to join Chinese club. PSG want him too apparently but not as their manager. Reports suggest he’ll reject both offers as he wants to stay in Europe with Spain or France being his preferred location as he looks for another club to manage.

Finally, with Unai Emery announcing he’ll be leaving PSG at the end of the season, 2+2 are adding up to 5. Us or Chelsea?