Charles Watts @charles_watts

Charles Watts on finally being back in the Champions League

How good was it to hear the UEFA Champions League music back at the Emirates again?

I have to admit, I was a bit taken aback at just how much it meant to me on the night of the PSV Eindhoven game.

The weather might have been atrocious, and that’s a bit of an understatement to be fair, but even that didn’t take the shine of what was a really special night.

Obviously it helped that we played really well, won the game convincingly and scored some great goals, but it was more than that.

There was just that overwhelming feeling throughout the evening that the club was back where it belonged.

It’s been a long time coming and there’s been some tough times to endure since 2017, but looking around the Emirates that night those bad memories all just went away.

You could feel how up for it everyone was. It was a brilliant atmosphere and the roar that went around the place when the anthem finished was really, really special.

It wasn’t that long ago that the prospect of Arsenal playing in the Champions League seemed like a distant one, but it is now very much a reality thanks to the work that has gone on at the club since Mikel Arteta arrived.

Now the challenge is to actually compete for the damn thing. It’s safe to say Arsenal have had a mixed relationship with this competition over the years.

One final during Wenger’s 20 plus year stay just wasn’t good enough when you think of some of the teams we had during that time.

But I really think this team has a chance to have a good go at it this season, even if most of them have never really played in the competition before.

I look around and I just don’t think there are many teams to really fear in it, Manchester City aside of course.

Of course it’s going to be difficult, we saw that with what happened in the second game against Lens. But I still think this team, with a bit of luck along the way, has what it takes to go deep into the competition. And if they do that, then who knows what could happen?

I mean, Spurs got to the final for God’s sake. I think it’s a really important competition for Arteta as well this season. He needs to show he has what it takes to get Arsenal competing in Europe and that he can use his squad well enough to stay the pace in the Premier League at the same time.

You look at Arteta’s record since he arrived at Arsenal and probably the one big blot on his copybook is his record in Europe. It’s not been good enough and he has a big opportunity to change that this season.

Using his squad properly is going to be key to that. There’s been so much talk during the first couple of months of the season about the need for rotation and how important it is to rest certain players.

Obviously Bukayo Saka has been central to that debate and I can understand why. It does seem that Arteta is determined to run him into the ground at times, even when there are obvious opportunities to rest him.

I had no problem with him starting the game at Lens. Arsenal had waited seven years to get back into the Champions League and I don’t think they had the luxury to rest their best players for what was always going to be a tricky away game with qualification from the group far from secured.

4 THE GOONER - ISSUE 302