Arsenal are now looking certain to reach the Champions League knockouts | OneFootball

Our Gunner women have made it to the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarterfinals with 2 games to spare. Now it seems the men’s team is also looking to make the knockout stages.

Our Gunners, who had been absent from the Premier European competition for almost 6 years, made a triumphant return to Champions League football last season. Labelled inexperienced and not ready to dance with the big boys, our Gunners shocked many with their spirited run on the continental stage that saw them reach the quarters.

They hoped to build on that, but the changing Champions League format presented a more formidable obstacle. The competition transitioned from a group stage format to a league phase format. We expected this change to intensify the competition, as teams would face more challenging opponents early in the competition, rather than waiting until the knockout stages.

In a league of 36 teams, the teams finishing in the top eight in the league will qualify automatically for the last 16, while the teams finishing in ninth to 24th place will compete in a two-legged play-off against each other to join the top eight teams in that round of the competition.

So far Arsenal in Europe has risen to the occasion, as their results suggest:

Atalanta 0-0 Arsenal Arsenal 2-0 PSG Arsenal 1-0 Shakhtar Inter 1-0 Arsenal Sporting CP 1-5 Arsenal

After that win over Sporting CP Tuesday night, our boys in red and white have now come through the toughest away games against Inter Milan, Atalanta, and Sporting and still sit in the top 8 as it stands.

The remaining three straightforward fixtures, Monaco (at home), Zagreb (at home), and Girona (away), offer more opportunities to conclude the UCL league phase in style. Our boys are now in a fantastic position to finish in the top 8 and look to go further in the competition. Could us Gooners now be thinking of buying our UCL 2025 Final Tickets before the prices start going up?

Even without a trip to Dubai to recharge and reflect, it is wonderful that our Gunners have turned things around after a tricky run before the international break. What a wonderful time to be a Gunner! The situation only gets better as Manchester City continues to drop points.