Arsenal midfielder Lucas Torreira believes that the club deserve to be playing Champions League football next season because of their stature.
In an interview with Sky Sports News, Arsenal midfield mainstay has claimed the the Gunners ‘deserve’ to qualify for the UEFA Champions League next season, owing to the size and the status of the club.
Arsenal have failed to make it through to European football’s premier competition for the past two seasons now and find themselves facing the prospect of a third term in a row without Champions League football.
Unai Emery’s side are currently sixth in the Premier League standings following their 3-1 defeat at the hands of leaders Manchester City. The North Londoners are a point below Manchester United who occupy the fifth spot and three behind Chelsea, who are seated in the final qualifying spot for the Champions League.
Arsenal had a very positive first half of the season, that saw them go on a 22-match unbeaten streak across all competitions. However, since that streak was ended by Southampton in December, they have found it hard to get things back on track.
Arsenal find themselves under increasing pressure after having managed to pick up just ten points from their previous seven league matches. In that run, they did manage to beat Chelsea, but were handed heavy defeats by Liverpool, City, while they also succumbed to a 1-0 loss against London rivals West Ham United.
Exits from domestic cup competitions against arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur (Carabao Cup) and Manchester United (FA Cup) has made things more complicated for Emery and his team.
And Torreira, who signed for Arsenal this past summer from Sampdoria, has claimed the club of their size and status should be involved in Champions League football and believes that they have the ability to bounce back and finish in the top four of the Premier League.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the Uruguayan international said: “Qualifying is something which is very much on our minds. The squad is focused on qualifying for the Champions League because a big club like Arsenal deserves to be in that competition.
“If you look at the table at the moment there’s several points’ difference between us, but that said we’ve changed coach this season and there’s been a lot of new players arriving and we know it can be difficult to adapt when that sort of thing happens.
“We’re all working towards becoming the top team we want to become and I think we are doing that because we’ve been competing with some of the best teams. It’s about fighting with everything we’ve got to achieve our objective because that would be massive.”
Next up for Arsenal is a trip to bottom side Huddersfield Town, where they should be aiming to get back to winning ways, having already beaten the Terriers once this season.
Following that game, the Gunners will be taking on BATE Borisov in the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League. Manager Emery’s exceptional record in the Europa League during his time with Sevilla should fill them hopes of going all the way in the competition and making it back to the Champions League for the next season.
With the business end of the season approaching, Emery and Arsenal will be determined to get things back on track at the earliest possible and finish the campaign on a strong note.
