sport news It's crunch time for Arsenal and nagging fears are resurfacing... Mikel Arteta ... trends now
All of a sudden there’s a familiar, rather apprehensive, feeling gripping the Emirates Stadium.
A sinking feeling, the sort that has you bracing yourself for the worst.
Arsenal’s nerve is being questioned again ahead of a week that could define their season following Sunday’s 2-0 home loss to Aston Villa.
There is genuine basis to those emerging doubts. We’ve seen this film before.
The capitulation at the end of last season that cost Mikel Arteta’s side the Premier League title will haunt the club until they finally win the competition for the first time since 2004.
Similarly, during the 2021/22 season, they were pipped to a Champions League spot that for so long looked to be in their grasp. The fact it was Tottenham who dipped ahead of them didn’t help matters.
Mikel Arteta knows how vital this week is for Arsenal in defining their season
The Gunners suffered a shock defeat by Aston Villa to dent their Premier League chances
The devastation of those failures linger. They are hard to shake off.
So here we are again, it’s crunch time and those nagging fears are resurfacing.
Will lightening strike thrice? Is history repeating itself? Can Arsenal handle the heat? Are they bottlers? We’re about to find out.
The stakes couldn’t be higher - a place in the Champions League final four beckons if they can triumph here in Munich on Wednesday.
On Saturday, they travel to Wolves where anything other than victory would strike a potentially fatal blow to their title ambitions.
But, first thing’s first, here in Bavaria the Gunners have an opportunity to silence those that have already written them off as perennial chokers.
Arteta, stoically, urged his side to grasp that chance on Wednesday night.
‘A performance puts us in the Champions League semi-final,’ said the Spaniard.
‘All the preparation has been to achieve that. We have earned it. We have earned it for ten months and everything we did last season, to start our journey in the Champions League after so many years.
Harry Kane and Co are out to reach the Champions League last four at Arsenal's expense
Declan Rice looks distraught after the late 2-0 defeat by Villa and old fears are resurfacing
‘Tomorrow we have an unbelievable opportunity to make it happen.
‘Regardless of that result against Villa, it is going to have no impact on what’s going to happen here.
‘Refocus and start to build the confidence, the trust and understanding for the performance that we are going to have to put in to beat them and go through in the
