Long trips await Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League group stages this season, and while everyone agrees that group H is not the most challenging of groups here’s a statistic worth remembering.
@optajean noted that Arsenal have never won in Ukraine (3 defeats, 1 draw), Portugal (2 defeats, 3 draws) and Serbia (1 defeat).
Arsenal will face SC Braga, Shakhtar Donetsk, and FK Partizan in the Champions league group stages
The best way to summarize our group is not too hard but not easy. There is the distinct possibility of losing points, but the quality amongst the other teams are such that they will also take points off each other. Winning all home games is the key to qualifying for the knock-out stages.
Shakhtar Donetsk, Champions of Ukraine.
Our history against Shakhtar has not been that great. We all remember what happened the last time we visited them, and a 3-2 win at Highbury wasn’t that convincing either.
The return of Eduardo was the first thing on our minds when they were drawn in our group, but you just know the croziallian is going to score against us. Eduardo has already netted twice in his 3 games so far for the coalminers of Donetsk and a return to form looks imminent.
Eduardo is just 1 of a group of Brazilians at the club, infact with the exception of Srna their midfield is entirely Brazilian and short (the tallest being 5’9″).
Braga the Little Arsenal.
I love Braga, I think it’s the stadium. Estádio Municipal de Braga is cut into a granite mountain and only have two stands cut into a hillside, there’s only two stands, Behind the goal at one end are the rock walls of the quarry and at the other is an open view over the city sprawling in the distance.
Not only do they have a lovely stadium, but they love Arsenal. They wear the same colours, they are called Arsenal do Minho, their youth team is Arsenal do Braga and the fans are known as Arsenalistas.
No one gave Braga a chance against Sevilla, and it would be remiss of us not to give them a chance in the group stages.
FK Partizan Champions of Serbia.
For the last 3 years they’ve been the champions of Serbian football, that though has not translated into success in the champions league. The last time the made it to the group stages of the champions league was 2003/2004 where they won 1 of their 10 matches.
This year is the they had to rely on penalty kicks to get past Anderlecht. While playing away in Serbia is always a challenge, it is not insurmountable at all.
The draw has been kind to us.
Arsenal signs Squillaci.
The days of Arsène springing a surprise on us during the transfer window seems to be long over. Arsenal.com has finally announced the signing of Sébastien Squilacci, the worst kept secret in this transfer window.
The player said
“This is an exciting move for me. Arsène Wenger is a highly respected coach who I am very much looking forward to working with and of course, I know some of the Arsenal players through the national team. Arsenal is recognised as a side that not only plays beautiful football but one that challenges for trophies at the highest level and I am very excited to be joining such a fantastic club.”
hopefully he will turn out to be a Vermaelen type signing as opposed to a Silvèstre one.
See you all next time.
