It was inevitable, wasn’t it? Arsenal drew Bayern Munich in the last 16 round of the Champions League yesterday and the Emirates faithful were not happy at all. The Gunners could have gone up against the likes of Porto, Sevilla, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Madrid and Benfica, but will face the German giants for the third time in the last 16 round in the past five seasons – if something isn’t dodgy with that, then I don’t know what is.
However, all I have been hearing and reading about since the draw took place yesterday morning is about this tie. A tie that won’t take place until February. Now I know it is exciting to some and annoying to others, but the tie against Bayern Munich is still some way off and needs to be forgotten about until the time draws nearer.
Arsenal and the fans need to focus on now, more importantly, a tricky game against Everton later tonight at Goodison Park – not a game that is two months away.
The Gunners are currently three points off Premier League leaders Chelsea, knowing that a win against the Toffees would put some more pressure on Antonio Conte’s side to perform heading into the busy Christmas period, and also give our team some more confidence going into Sunday’s game against Manchester City.
The next seven weeks (eight Premier League games) are crucial to define whether Arsenal will remain serious title contenders, and full focus, top performances and no long-term injuries will be needed to get the results required. If the team can come out of that period in good shape, then anything is possible this season for Arsene Wenger’s men.
Until February comes, we don’t need to think about Bayern Munich. We don’t need to think about whether we can finally overcome them. The fact is, they can strengthen in January, so can we. They could turn their fortunes around from now until then and we may perhaps have had a stumble and be out of form (hopefully not). Two months is a long time in football and we need not concern ourselves with Bayern until the time comes. Focus on the now. Up the Gunners.
