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Young Gunners Set for "Mission Impossible" | 
As soon as the final whistle was blown at the Dragao last night, Manchester United confirmed its place in one of the two UEFA Champions League semifinals. Who was the opponent? A young Arsenal side that had already been penciled in as one of the semifinalists, around half an hour before United, courtesy of an emphatic 3-0 thrashing of Villarreal.
So what consequences does this tie create? Well, you do not need to be an amazing mathematician to realize that Arsenal will be playing all of its three Big Four rivals within a span of eleven days. As an Arsenal supporter, I admit that the prospect of having this season culminated before the next two weeks is very daunting. At the same time, I cannot wait for this young Arsenal side to finally pass such a massive test with flying colors. This would go a long way in ensuring that Arsenal does, indeed, belong with the big boys at the top.
Rather than indulging in subjective opinions, it is more important to analyze the magnitude of each task that awaits the Gunners in the next eleven days. Moreoever, it is also important to fully understand what is on stake for both Arsenal and the opponent in each of the cases. Of course, this analysis should begin with the earliest of the three fixtures – Arsenal vs. Chelsea in the FA Cup semifinal at Wembley Stadium!
ARSENAL v. CHELSEA (FA Cup semifinals): To be honest, I have waited endlessly to watch this game ever since this fixture came into effect. At the grandest football stadium of them all, two of London’s biggest teams will clash, in what I expect to be a cracker of a game. Both teams are fighting each other for the third place in the Premier League, while they could also meet each other in the Champions League final, at the end of the season.
Therefore, not only will the FA Cup semifinal be on the line this Saturday evening, but the winner would also succeed in making a major statement to the losing team. While the Blues will surely have one eye on hosting a tough Everton side in the Premier League four days later, the Gunners will be under a significantly greater amount of pressure as they will visit a determined Liverpool side merely three days after the FA Cup semifinal.
At the end of the day, however, we can expect Arsene Wenger to give his all to the FA Cup without thinking much about Tuesday’s trip to Anfield. Given that the FA Cup currently represents Arsenal’s best chance of ending its silverware drought, I tip the motivation of the young Gunners to triumph over Chelsea’s depth and experience.
LIVERPOOL vs. ARSENAL (Barclays Premier League) at Anfeld: This is the second game in the intimidating set of three for Wenger’s men, and almost inarguably the one with the greatest room for error. In all seriousness, Aston Villa and Everton cannot make up the ground on Arsenal, which means that “The Professor” will let his squad breathe relatively easy for this one. I expect the Arsenal squad to be terribly fatigued after the encounter with Chelsea, and it will be very difficult to overpower a Liverpool side that is focused on only this competition.
If the Gunners manage an upset win at Anfield, however, they could temporarily go down as heroes in the red half of Manchester, because this result would effectively end Liverpool’s challenge to United’s title charge. Of course, just eight days later, the Gunners could upset United in the Champions League at Old Trafford, and change this status from “heroes” to “villains”.
MANCHESTER UNITED vs. ARSENAL (UEFA Champions League semi-final Leg 1): In the paragraph above, I use the word “upset” for a good reason. After two exhausting games against Chelsea and Liverpool, I won’t be surprised to see an extremely tired Arsenal squad striving to conserve energy. Therefore, when they visit Old Trafford, the Gunners can expect the toughest challenge of their season thus far, as the determined holders will be spurred on by their devout faithful. Add to the mix the fact that officiating at Old Trafford can always end up swinging United’s way very effortlessly.
Arsene Wenger better hope that his players can overcome their infamous dispute with injuries, because the Gunners would at least need a positive result at Old Trafford. Something along the lines of a scoring draw, or a narrow scoring defeat (by no more than one goal), would be acceptable as they head back to the Emirates.
Starting with that second leg at the Emirates on May 5, Arsenal will, once again, face all others in the Big Four within a span of 11 days. That, of course, will be another massive challenge for the North London outfit. But, before paying too much attention to that second series of “Mission Impossible” fixtures, the Gunners must begin by setting the tone this Saturday.
How will Arsenal fare in the coming weeks? Comment below or have your say in the forum!
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After the whole season looking like it was all about United & Liverpool, it’s suddenly become all about Arsenal & Chelsea. Arsenal could easily derail united & Liverpool in the league, leaving Chelsea with the chance to snatch it, and they if they can take advantage of Uniteds poor form we could end up with an all London European Cup final…few people would have expected that 4 months ago. They are definately the form sides at the minute
@Dogless – I guess around this point in the season, United are usually top and rival teams want them out of the top spot so bad that they would rather see United lose even if that means their team has to give in to United’s closest rival…in that sense, I understand where you are coming from because I have always hated United with a passion. However, it is important to realize that you should just worry about your club the most at the end of the day. From that perspective, I only care about our results from now on…if our win over Liverpool puts them down, then I can care less…that approach also means that we are NOT finishing fourth just yet…watch out, you still have to visit the Emirates and we will be ready for our revenge right around that time.
@Zain
Just so you know, as a Chelsea supporter, I’m hoping you lose to Liverpool and beat Man U. I’m not sure how common a thought this is amongst Chelsea fans, but I’d rather come 3rd and have Liverpool win the league, than come 2nd and have Man U win it.
I think it goes without saying that you’re finishing fourth, right?
@ afam…someone before you wrote the complete opposite and for some reason the post is not there anymore. Unfortunately, even though I obviously loved your post a lot more, your claim is now impossible with Arsenal out of the FA Cup. It was very tough to take but then again, I call this a “Mission Impossible” for a reason. No, I am not saying it is impossible for us to beat our top three rivals…what I am saying is that it is impossible for any team to beat them three IN A ROW and that too AWAY FROM HOME. Anyway, if we end Pool’s title dreams at Anfield and then do the same to United in the CL, some of this FA Cup pain would be forgotten and a big part of the mission would be accomplished.
@ Brian…that’s right, we are out of the FA Cup…it was a tight 50-50 kind of game and a goalie error decided it…I am now obviously hating the FA Cup with disgusting teams like Chelsea and United in it, but I believe you guys should be worried about the 29th, where you’ll see a bunch of wounded youngsters ready to destroy you at Old Trafford. Later, we’ll deal with Chelsea as well if they can make the final.
One game down, and Arsenal are out of the FA Cup.
[...] Zain Alvi put an intriguing blog post on Young Gunners Set for â [...]
arsenal must surely win the three matches. yhey are unstopable.