Chelsea currently occupy the fourth spot on the Premier League table while teams like West Ham and Spurs are breathing down their necks. But Granit Xhaka feels Arsenal can still somehow catch up with them in the coming months.
The Gunners are ninth on the league table – nine points behind Chelsea but the Arsenal midfielder has claimed that his side can still qualify for the Champions League next season via the Premier League route.
“In the league we are back within reach of the European places and now we need a run to make it in there. In the Europa League it would be absolutely important to get to the final,” the Swiss international told Blick.
“So far it has been an up and down season. We got off to a good start at the beginning, then didn’t score in a number of games, but now things are going much better again.
“In football you have to live with criticism, but there also have to be limits,
“There are other players who get red cards, but they don’t get criticised as much as I do. That doesn’t ruin me. I can handle it, and this time I came back even stronger, which many people did not expect.”
Can Arsenal enter the Premier League top-four?
Arsenal have been able to get some winds in their sails in the past few months but hoping to finish in the top-four is nothing but a pipe dream.
The Gunners have played 29 league games up until now while Aston Villa are just one point behind them and they have a game in hand. So if Arsenal can consider themselves in the race then Villa have an even better chance.
Also, Liverpool are also in that mix and if they can manage to get their confidence back then there’s no stopping Jurgen Klopp’s side.
As things stand, Chelsea are the favourites to occupy that final Champions League spot but the level of consistency from all the Premier League sides has been really poor this season so we expect all of them to drop multiple points in the coming months.
And for Arsenal to jump over teams like West Ham, Everton, Liverpool and Spurs, they will have to be fully focused and consistent – something they just won’t be able to do.
So the sensible thing for the North London side will be to let the big boys fight it out for the fourth spot on the Premier League table while they focus on winning the Europa League.
