Sleepless nights and the European adventure begins again

Arsene Wenger has admitted that years of failure in the Champions League is giving him sleepless night just thinking about it. He isn't the only one, I must say. Each year, I begin hoping for the Gunners to claim their Holy Grail but every year we end up dissapointed. We have come close on several occasion but since 2006, we seem to not have the luck of the draw as we are either being paired with another English team or one of the major contenders early in the knockout rounds. Last year's capitulation at the Nou Camp was extremely heartbreaking given our performance in the first leg. We would never know what would have happened if we had the full team for the first leg available.

Anyway, it's no point crying over spilt milk, and this year our adventure begins again at home to Braga. In a Sky Sports interview, Arsene has stressed the importance of getting maximum points at home. He also cautioned his players to be wary of Braga. This Portugese may not have the pedigree of Porto or Benfica but they just lost out to Benfica in the league last year and knocked out Sevilla in the Champion League qualifying rounds. I would certainly be exercise caution in thinking we can just strolled our way to another victory.

Having said that, I remain optimistic about our chances this years (as I have every other year) about our chances. Arsene himself talked up our chances. He said

"We have a good mixture of quality and more experience. You know when you see our team play that they are not any more tender. We are equipped to win the Champions League. "

I just hope that at the end of this season both Arsene and myself would not have any more sleepless nights.