History Suggests Arsenal Need to Win Their Champions League Group This Season

On Tuesday, Arsenal face what will surely be their biggest test of the Champions League group stage. Paris Saint-Germain lie in wait, with the two European giants favourites to progress from Group A.

History suggests the Gunners need a positive result at the Parc des Princes—their failure to top the group in recent years has been instrumental in their inability to reach the tournament’s latter stages. 

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger appears to see PSG as the team most likely to top Group A, per Mattias Karen of ESPN FC:

If you look at their record against English teams you become cautious because they have done extremely well against Chelsea, against Manchester. I believe we have to be on our toes and prepare very well.

Maybe Paris Saint-Germain are the favourites [in the group]. They have big ambition. But we want to qualify of course and if possible finish first in the group. We start in Paris, so that will be a very interesting test. Because they are a team that has absolutely unlimited financial potential and that have bought really well. But of course we want to challenge that. We’ll see.

The north London outfit must challenge PSG’s supremacy if they are serious about making a credible tilt at winning the Champions League.

Their recent record is not good. In each of the last six years, Arsenal have been eliminated at the first knockout stage. Their exit at the round of 16 has become customary, and there does seem to be a relationship with their performance in the competition proper’s first stage; in five of those six years, Arsenal have finished second in their group.

After last season’s exit against Barcelona, Wenger launched an impassioned defence of his record in the Champions League. Per Sami Mokbel of MailOnline: 

I’ll give you the stats. We have to consider it game by game. You look at the positives and negatives and prepare for the next one. 

We have gone out against top sides, who went on and won the Champions League after.

Only on one occasion we were completely guilty, against Monaco. The others were against Bayern and Barcelona twice. 

Wenger has a point. Arsenal have faced some top sides in Europe’s elite competition. However, that’s largely their own fault. Their consistent failure to emerge as group-stage winners means …

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