At the beginning of the current football season Arsenal were being hailed as a possible title contender, at least a team that was building towards some form of silverware. The loss of Cesc Fabregas has caused a huge headache for team management and seems to be one they have never planned for. Arsenal’s woes remind of the chaos that struck Newcastle several seasons ago when top class players were let go and not replaced.

Of course, Newcastle had ownership issues at the time, but even so, Arsenal now seem to be facing the same downward spiral that Newcastle suffered – and they finished up being relegated. The Champions League qualifications are Arsenal’s next major hurdle and they travel to Udinese tomorrow with a narrow 1-0 lead. Udinese showed some spirit away from home and you can expect that to continue when they are in front of their own home crowd tomorrow. Bookmakers have deserted Arsenal making Udinese favourites at 11/8.

You can back either the draw or Arsenal at 12/5, however, on current form, we have to tip the home side. This will end Arsenal’s Champions League bid and send them down to the Europa League where they may have more success. It’s interesting to see Arsenal’s odds in the Premier League tumble out to 25/1 after being as short as 8/1 pre-season football betting.

In the Europa League qualification round to be played out on Thursday, there are three home games and one away game, however, all four English teams seem to be well placed to advance. Fulham (5/2) have the toughest task traveling to Dnipro (13/10). Fulham only an away draw to progress and at 23/10 that looks to be a good value bet. In the other games, Spurs (2/7) host Hearts (11/1); Stoke (8/15) host Thun (13/2); and Birmingham (6/5) host Nacional (14/5) – it would be a surprise to see any of those home sides lose.