At the time of writing this article, Arsenal are 11th on the Premier League table but they still have a fighting chance of qualifying for the Champions League next season.
Right now, the Gunners are 10 points behind fourth-placed Chelsea having played one game less but they might not need to finish fourth by the end of the season since Manchester City have currently been banned from the UCL next campaign.
But according to Nigel Winterburn, a number of things need to fall in place for Arsenal to get back into the top-tier of European football next season.
He said: “If fifth was available and then that got you into the Champions League, I think Arsenal will have an outside chance.
“However, there are a lot of teams ahead of them that are going to have to drop points, or Arsenal are going to have to go on an unbelievable run.
“Do I see that happening at the moment? I don’t know whether I do, because to do that, Arsenal are going to have to win a significant amount of games, and we’ve already showed that at times we’re a bit vulnerable and we’re more likely to draw.
“So, just keep progressing in terms of your form. We want to see some foundations for next season and then look to go a long way in the competitions this season; FA Cup and Europa League.
“After all, the Europa League gets you back into the Champions League.
“So we’ve got to go deep into those competitions and keep taking a step up the league week by week. Let’s see when we get towards the end of the season if fifth’s open for Champions League, how close are we going to be coming into the last three games or so.”
A large number of teams are all fighting for possibly two spots on the league table and despite still having a chance on paper, even Mikel Arteta knows it for a fact that it would require some divine intervention if the Arsenal were to play in the Champions League next campaign.
