Europa draw

We should be winning that group comfortably in all honesty.

A bit annoying that we're going to have long trips to Ukraine and Azerbaijan but I'm assuming Emery won't be fielding a full strength XI to begin with in the group stages. I'd expect the likes of Welbeck, Nketiah, Elneny, Smith-Rowe, Holding, Leichsteiner etc to be getting a run out in these early stages.

The only potential good matches will be against Sporting Lisbon who, despite losing some of their best players on a free (sound familiar?) over last few years, are still a decent side.

Ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano has recently signed for them, whilst ex-Man United winger Nani joined them on a free transfer and has 3 goals in 3 games so far.
 
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BrunelGooner said:
We should be winning that group comfortably in all honesty.

A bit annoying that we're going to have long trips to Ukraine and Azerbaijan but I'm assuming Emery won't be fielding a full strength XI to begin with in the group stages. I'd expect the likes of Welbeck, Nketiah, Elneny, Smith-Rowe, Holding, Leichsteiner etc to be getting a run out in these early stages.

The only potential good matches will be against Sporting Lisbon who, despite losing some of their best players on a free (sound familiar?) over last few years, are still a decent side.

Ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano has recently signed for them, whilst ex-Man United winger Nani joined them on a free transfer and has 3 goals in 3 games so far.
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Have sporting still got Carvalho too ? They are no push over, but we should be getting the better of them over both games. As for the other two, long trips ahead for those games. Does anybody know who we are playing in the PL on those weekends ?
 
PISKIE said:
Have sporting still got Carvalho too ? They are no push over, but we should be getting the better of them over both games.
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Nope, Carvalho cancelled his contract with them prior to the World Cup. He subsequently ended up joining Real Betis on a free transfer.

Betis finished 6th last season in La Liga and are also in the Europa League.

Was a bit surprised he signed for them admittedly, especially after he was constantly linked to Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Spurs and Everton. Guess that just goes to show how little journalists actually know.

As for the other two, long trips ahead for those games. Does anybody know who we are playing in the PL on those weekends ?
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These are our fixtures from mid-September to mid-December. I've highlighted the Europa fixtures and the league teams we'll be playing that same week in bold.

Saturday 15th September - Newcastle [away]
Thursday 20th September - Vorskla [home]
Sunday 23rd September - Everton [home]
Tuesday 25th September - Brentford [home]
Saturday 29th September - Watford [home]

Thursday 4th October - Qarabag [away]
Sunday 7th October - Fulham [away]
Monday 22nd October - Leicester [home]
Thursday 25th October - Sporting Lisbon [away]
Sunday 28th October - Crystal Palace [away]

Saturday 3rd November - Liverpool [home]
Thursday 8th November - Lisbon [home]
Sunday 11th November - Wolves [home]
Sunday 25th November - Bournemouth [away]
Thursday 29th November - Vorskla [away]

Saturday 1st December - Tottenham [home]
Tuesday 4th December - Manchester United [away]
Sunday 8th December - Huddersfield Town [home]
Thursday 13th December - Qarabag [home]
Saturday 15th December - Southampton [away]

I have to say - there are some tough looking fixtures sandwiched in between the Europa fixtures. Not a lot of time to rest in between either.

It's frustrating that we have the Vorskla game away two days before the north London derby, but I'm hoping we'll have qualified by then, so we can send a skeleton team to Ukraine and focus on the derby. Then we have United away 3 days later, which is also not ideal!

The only thing I can say is that the earlier we qualify, the easier life will be for us. Win the first 4 games, as we should, and that would probably be enough to sack off the remaining 2 Europa games as dead rubbers, meaning we can focus on the league more.
 
are these ppl not professional athletes of sorts, watch a video of State of Origin Rugby League, some of these back up
2 days later
 
mustyfrog said:
are these ppl not professional athletes of sorts, watch a video of State of Origin Rugby League, some of these back up
2 days later
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They are indeed professional athletes. They are also human beings who don't run on Duracell batteries 24/7. 2 or 3 days rest is not a lot of time when you factor in rest and recovery from an intense 90+ minutes of football, then there's travel to factor in, on top of training and preparation for the next game. It isn't just physical fatigue; it's mental fatigue too.

There's a reason why Sir Alex Ferguson used to rotate his squad fairly regularly. It's because he didn't want his key players to burn out when the fixtures came thick and fast.

With the current Arsenal team, I do expect their fitness levels to increase under Emery's regime as the fitness of the squad isn't as high as it perhaps should be. However, even when Emery eventually does raise their fitness levels to the way he wants, I would still expect him to rotate the squad when he deems necessary.
 
also.. Why the **** are we playing Qarabağ in a European competition? Azerbaijan is clearly not in Europe - it's further East than Turkey, Israel, Jordon,Syria, Iraq.. FFS
 
TheBear said:
also.. Why the **** are we playing Qarabağ in a European competition? Azerbaijan is clearly not in Europe - it's further East than Turkey, Israel, Jordon,Syria, Iraq.. FFS
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Interestingly (or not), Azerbaijan is regarded as being on the edge of both Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

Apparently, the country's total area size is 33,400 square miles. Out of the 33,400 square miles, 2,687.27 square miles of the country is within Europe, whilst the remaining square miles obviously in Asia. So I guess technically, they can still somewhat claim to geographically be part of Europe.

Also, they have been an active member of the Council of Europe since 2001 and joined the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2004. They have also formalised partnership agreements with the EU and seek greater integration within the rest of Europe.

I'm not saying that it's right, by the way, but I'm just trying to make others understand why some classify them as a European country and why they are eligible to perform in European competitions.
 
TheBear said:
also.. Why the **** are we playing Qarabağ in a European competition? Azerbaijan is clearly not in Europe - it's further East than Turkey, Israel, Jordon,Syria, Iraq.. FFS
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Astana are in it too. That is Easy of both Karachi and Kabul but a tiny sliver of Kazakhstan is in Europe so they can join UEFA.

I suppose a team from Vladivostok might qualify one day...
 
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