FOR those clubs with their noses pressed against the windows of the Champions League and the elite level of the European game, the Europa League is as good as it gets. For a second tier competition, there are a number of superpowers involved this season with Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are considered among.
There are three English representatives left in this season’s Europa League, now at the last 16 stage, and all three want to clamber their way back into the Champions League. That’s where Arsenal, Spurs and United see themselves next season and the Europa League offers them a route to get there.
Arsenal and Tottenham are well-placed to make the competition’s quarter finals. United have some work to do to get past AC Milan after a 1-1 first leg draw, but there’s a good chance there could be three English teams in the Europa League’s final eight. But which of these three Premier League clubs needs to win the Europa League most of all this season?
The top four and Champions League qualification through the Premier League is furthest away for Arsenal with Mikel Arteta’s side currently in 10th place, a massive 30 points off Manchester City’s pace at the top of the table. With this in mind, it would appear the Gunners need Europa League glory more than anyone else.
It could be the only thing to save Arteta from a reckoning. Without Europa League success, and the champions League qualification that comes with it, the desperation of Arsenal’s season will be thrust into focus. Without Europa League success, Arteta’s Arsenal would be a mid-table team that fell short in every cup competition.
Man Utd 1-1 AC Milan
Dynamo Kyiv 0-2 Villarreal
Ajax 3-0 Young Boys
Slavia Prague 1-1 Rangers
Olympiacos 1-3 Arsenal
Granada 2-0 Molde
Spurs 2-0 Dinamo Zagreb
Roma 3-0 ShakhtarEuropa League first legs in the books ✔️ pic.twitter.com/3dIl3womsc
— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 11, 2021
Symbolically, Tottenham Hotspur arguably need the Europa League trophy in their hands even more than their North London rivals. Jose Mourinho was hired to bring tangible success in the form of silverware to Spurs. Without that silverware, the Portuguese manager will go down as a failure at the club.
Personally, Mourinho also needs a major title to prove he still belongs at the top of the sport. The 58-year-old’s methods and ideas have been questioned of late and after suffering spirals at Chelsea and Manchester United there is evidence to support the notion that he is no longer at the vanguard of the managerial arena.
For different reasons, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also needs a trophy this season. Unlike Mourinho, the Norwegian has never before scaled the heights of the game as a manager. For all the progress charted by United under Solskjaer’s stewardship, the Old Trafford outfit have yet to mark it with silverware.
Manchester United’s participation in the Europa League is seen through a different prism than Arsenal or Tottenham’s. Solskjaer’s side currently sit second in the Premier League table. They have a nine-point cushion on West Ham in fifth place, putting them in a commanding position to qualify for the Champions League for a second successive season. United likely won’t need the Europa League to give them a seat at the top table.
This weekend, Solskjaer will lead United into an FA Cup quarter final against Leicester City, so he has more than one route to a trophy this season, but the silverware sand slipped through the Norwegian’s fingers last season as the Old Trafford side suffered semi final exits in three cup competitions.
AC Milan, Ajax, Rangers, Roma and Villarreal are all still in this season’s Europa League, making the competition stronger than it has been in years, but it is the Premier League’s contingent of three who seemingly have the most riding on the competition. Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham’s seasons could be defined why which of them lifts the trophy.
To win the 2020/21 Europa League: Tottenham (4/1) Manchester United (4/1) Arsenal (9/2)
