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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Michael Butler

Will the Gunners sink or swim as they return to the Round of Arsenal?

If the first leg goes badly on the pitch he could always hope for a better one on the PSV oche.
If the first leg goes badly on the pitch Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta could always hope for a better one on the PSV oche. Photograph: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

BACK WHERE THEY BELONG

Welcome back, everyone, to the Round of Arsenal, otherwise known as the last-16 of Bigger Cup since the Wenger years, and for us it will always be thus. Pedants will point out that ‘ooooooh, Arsenal weren’t even in Bigger Cup for many years’ and ‘oooooooh, Arsenal actually won their last-16 tie against Porto last season’. It doesn’t matter. This is the Round of Arsenal. Manchester United didn’t always score in injury time under Sir Alex Ferguson. They didn’t even score late goals most of the time. But that didn’t mean that particular watch-tapping, chewing-gumming stoppage time didn’t have a name. And this, so-called Bigger Cup round-of-16, is yours.

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