UEL Round of 32 2nd Leg: Arsenal (1) v Benfica (1) | Thursday February 25 | KO: 17:55 UTC | BT Sport

[Kav]

Am I the only one who genuinely think we should be winning this game and expect us to go through the next round?

I have little hopes of us winning the competition but surely we should be very competitive and be favourites to win against Benfica( I am not saying we will win just that we are expected to)

if we lose well ....it won’t be the first time Arteta was knocked out of Europe.

 

[Legend14]

Really and truly if we lose Arteta needs to resign the next day. It shouldn’t have got this far though.

Are we going to say this every game from now on? If we lose this one, half the players should resign too. They should be able to beat Benfica without Arteta around if they just execute.

Our season is pretty much in the bin already unless by some miracle we win the entire Euro, and the odds are against this. Just not feeling the weekly drama.

 

[gunner4lyfe]

This is kind of the point Im getting at though.
Yeah, it was a collective effort of gash from a number/all our players which led to us not getting champs league. Just always seems that Aubemeyang is exempt from criticism.

Can you imagine had any other player missed that penalty?

Never seen anyone get as much slack as Aubemeyang, misses the most basic of chances v Benfica and you’ve got AM telling us its a sign that he’s in good form and that we should be worried if he wasn’t missing those chances. Dreadful stuff.

He can be afforded some slack for saving us with his goals. Tell me of a game where Granit fvcking Xhaka or that fvcker Mustafi has saved us from defeat?

 

[Iceman10]

Am I the only one who genuinely think we should be winning this game and expect us to go through the next round?

I have little hopes of us winning the competition but surely we should be very competitive and be favourites to win against Benfica( I am not saying we will win just that we are expected to)

if we lose well ....it won’t be the first time Arteta was knocked out of Europe.

No, you are not alone. A few weeks back it was looking like we were making progress, in reach of Top 6. The loss at Villa in particular (manner of the defeat) adds to scepticism of how we will fare in later rounds of the EL where we likely won’t be able to avoid a domestic opponent. It’s just about it all getting very real that we likely will not even have EL football next season. That said, expect a win here and will support the team to win every match as always.

 

[Oxeki]

Just had a dream that we claimed a hard-fight 2-0 win.

Let's do it guys!

 

[dashsnow17]

Arsenal 1 - Benfica 2

 

[MartiSaka]

Prime conditions for us to go out on away goals

 

[Sapient Hawk]

Benfica are nothing special. The unfortunate truth is that we're no better.

An underwhelming match between two dreadful teams who have no hope of winning the Europa League.

Having said that 1-0 to the Arsenal, because everyone loves a classic

 

[Rimaal]

Benfica are nothing special. The unfortunate truth is that we're no better.

An underwhelming match between two dreadful teams who have no hope of winning the Europa League.

Having said that 1-0 to the Arsenal, because everyone loves a classic

Yeah. We're not losing today. I'll go 2-1.

 

[Sapient Hawk]

Yeah. We're not losing today. I'll go 2-1.

Whatever steely resolve they had in defence left with Ruben Dias.

If we manage to hit them fast & get a couple of goals in rapid succession, we'll have enough control to see the game out comfortably.

 

[Jury]

Just hard a dream that we claim a hard-foight 2-0 win.

Let's do it guys!

I don’t dream about Arsenal much but the last time I did I dreamed we lost 2-0 to Wolves. I was nearly right because we got shafted by the officials and lost 2-1. When you are dreaming about Arsenal games right now, you know you’re probably more invested than what’s good for you

 

[tap-in]

I'm confident for tonight. We should have won the first leg easily but didnt take our chances. I think so many people are negative because of the season we've had but apart from the Villa game we've been a very different team to the one that played Sept to Dec. I think we'll will win tonight and win comfortably.

3-0

 

[Oxeki]

Arsenal 1 - Benfica 2

Charity FC to get their season back on track

 

[Oxeki]

We should go through though. Benfica are a horrendous side. Ostensund FK were a far more formidable opponent against us ffs

 

[AW49]

I would like to see us start with Pepe as he doesn’t seem to make big contributions coming off the bench. Have Partey on the bench and introduce him around the hour mark if needed.

Leno
Bellerin Luiz Gabriel Tierney
Xhaka Ceballos
Saka ESR Pepe
Aubameyang

Defeat here and the doom and gloom will be insufferable with effectively 13 pointless league games to play out

 

[Jury]

Charity FC to get their city back on track

Teams in that position either go to pieces or they play with the shackles off. They resembled a team nearer going to pieces in the first leg and we should have left them in pieces to be honest. I just hope that wasn’t our chance gone. Irrespective of what mood they may be in, they aren’t very good on paper and we should beat them pretty handily.

 

[OnlyOne]

Not watching this one but if Arteta starts Partey then thats a huge sign of desperation which would be concerning. Hope posters like TrillSpray can make up for my absence tonight.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

Not watching this one but if Arteta starts Partey then thats a huge sign of desperation which would be concerning. Hope posters like TrillSpray can make up for my absence tonight.

Arteta starting Partey not fully fit ahead of Ceballos would be a huge indicator of how he rates Ceballos in terms of having an impact he wants. FWIW I think it'll be the same team as last week barring Tierney perhaps.

 

[Rasmi]

Full trust in Arsenal tonight, we will 100% go into the last 16.

I’m betting on Arsenal today. They have to win a match eventually and a loss here will reinforce my hatred for Arteta. So it’s a win win situation

 

[freeglennhelder2]

Arteta starting Partey not fully fit ahead of Ceballos would be a huge indicator of how he rates Ceballos in terms of having an impact he wants. FWIW I think it'll be the same team as last week barring Tierney perhaps.

Sad to say Partey playing at 60% is better than the majority of our team. More an indication of how far we have fallen than anything else, but there ya go.