Here we are again.
Spring has arrived, and with that comes the news that Arsenal Football Club have yet again fallen at the Champions League last 16 hurdle.
On the wrong end of 5-1 scorelines in both legs of their meeting with Bayern Munich, there was a real sense after Tuesday’s game at the Emirates that this might well have been Arsene Wenger’s final Champions League game with the Arsenal.
‘Wenger Out’ protests were held by some supporters prior to the game, with the result doing little to strengthen any case for the Frenchman sticking around beyond the end of the season.
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On top of all this, there’s the murmurings that Alexis Sanchez is ready for off, too.
With no news of a new deal for the Chilean, reports of him storming out of a training session last week haven’t really gone away, despite a few unconvincing attempts to play them down from people within the club.
And after the full-time whistle, Theo Walcott confirmed what we all pretty much knew anyway – something has indeed happened.
Speaking to the Evening Standard’s James Olley, Walcott said: “Things get taken out of proportion – we all know this. There are certain things that happen at training grounds.
“I’m sure it happens at every other training ground, most of the time, really.
“You don’t see it often at Arsenal. Things have happened. They need to stay in the dressing room and the players and staff need to sort it out. We are in it together here. We can’t be fighting each other.
“I don’t really want to go into it but the stuff that has gone on did not affect our first half here. At certain times when things don’t go well, you don’t want to have anything in your head that you are giving up.
‘The 5-1 scoreline looks like we have given up but we haven’t. It just looks like that. That’s the disappointing thing because we know as players we don’t give up.”
With the Champions League campaign over for the year (possibly longer), Arsenal now turn their attention to their FA Cup quarter final with Lincoln City on Saturday afternoon.
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