Arsenal are refusing to give up on the season despite being knocked out of the Champions League in the second consecutive season at the last 16 stage. Arsenal were knocked out after a 3-1 aggregate defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich. The tie was effectively over after the first leg since the Premier league outfit lost 2-0 at the Emirates. They managed to draw the second leg 1-1 at the Allianz arena, but it was not enough to knock out the reigning champions. Despite the setback, Thomas Vermaelen has reiterated that the Premier league and FA Cup remain as potential trophies available for the club.
Arsenal have not won a major trophy since 2005 and they are keen to end this trophy drought. Mikel Arteta recently stated that the club will transform in stature if they ended this trophy drought. They are in the best possible shape for this according to Vermaelen, who has been heavily linked with a move away from the club in the last few months. Arsenal are third in the league title race with only four points separating them from leaders Chelsea, while they recently made it into the semifinals of the FA Cup after beating Everton. They will face Wigan in the semifinals with a potential data against Sunderland waiting in the finals.
“The result (against Bayern) wasn’t great for us to go through, but you always need to take the positives out of it. We worked hard and that is what you need, the spirit in the team is very good. We are still up there in the Premier League, we are in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, you can feel the desire in the team that there is still something to play for. We can’t deny that we are the favourites anymore because we are the highest Premier League team, but this is the FA Cup,” said the Belgian.