Champions League knockout games haven?t been good to us over the past 25 years, not have games against Bayern Munich. This one feels extra huge given the context of potentially blowing the league against a messy Aston Villa side.
The maths is simple:
Win and our season is well and truly back on.
Lose, and the ramifications could be devastating to our remaining 5 Premier League games.
Mikel Arteta isn?t just battling physical fatigue this Wednesday, he?s fighting emotional drainage. Every game in 2024 has felt critical in some way, but since the City game on March 31st, every outing has been a cup final. My view is the Bayern game, under the bright lights, on the big boy stage, absolutely wrecked us this past weekend. The consequence was an embarrassing loss at the business end of the season. Now the boys have a new challenge – it?s the Iain Dowie bouncebackability test.
I bet you didn?t think Iain Dowie was going to be to the answer to the blog headline, did you"
Can young men pick themselves up from the mud and do something historic on the biggest stage in world football"
It?ll be tough.
My suspicion is Arteta will change the system to reduce the load on heavy legs. Bayern Munich absorbed our pressure in the home leg. I think Arsenal will reverse roles away from home and play their game. If it?s of any consequence, I was told the conversation amongst players was they felt they should have won against Bayern. Which is a positive.
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