Wenger desperate for lifeline in Premier League finale
LONDON: Arsene Wenger will hope an unexpected slip from Liverpool or Manchester City helps silence a growing army of critics as Arsenal try to salvage their traumatic Premier League campaign by snatching a Champions League berth in Sunday’s season finale. Rocked by Arsenal’s failure to live up to his expectations, and with a succession of former players questioning his methods, Wenger has been under fire like never before in his 21-year reign — and the lowest moment of all is likely to come at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
As if finishing below arch rivals Tottenham Hotspur for the first time in 22 years wasn’t bad enough, Wenger’s bid to lead Arsenal into the Champions League for a 20th successive season is in grave danger heading into their against Everton.
To make matters last league game worse, his MUSCAT: Monaco street circuit, world motorsport’s most glamorous racing venue, is the destination for Omani ace Al Faisal Al Zubair later this week when the high-profile Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup arrives in Monte-Carlo for the third race of the 2017 season.
After making a very impressive debut in the FIA Formula One World Championship support category just a week ago in Barcelona, Spain, the FZ Racing driver is now ready to realise one of his long-held dreams when he takes to the world-famous street circuit a few days from now.
“I’m really excited for Monaco”, said Al Faisal, “When I confirmed to race in the Supercup, to be able to race at Monaco was one of the highlights. I’ll only have 45 minutes to learn the circuit in practice but I’ll do the best I can and will be spending time on the sim before we go to the track. It’s going to be amazing just being part of the whole Formula One weekend Monaco experience.”
Graduating into the flagship Porsche former captain Tony Adams said Wenger “couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag” in an extract from his autobiography “Sober”, the Sun newspaper.
Wenger, however, Mobil 1 Supercup off the back of an absolutely sensational maiden campaign in sportscar racing in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, Al Faisal is rapidly turning heads as one of the region’s most promising international sports stars.
Winning the Silver class and GCC Rookie class championship titles in the Middle Eastern series, which concluded back in April as part of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, the 19-year-old from Muscat went on to confirm his step-up into the Supercup soon after and instantly hit the ground running.
Although scoring points in Barcelona in round two of the campaign, Al Faisal knows the Monaco event will bring an incredibly stern challenge and especially with such limited practice time ahead of the crucial qualifying session.
“Barcelona was really good, although I did test there beforehand, so I think next weekend will be more challenging anyway”, added the Red Bull Oman supported racer, “It will be difficult and it’s the kind of circuit, close to the barriers with no run- serialised brushed in off off, where the experienced drivers will have a big advantage over the rookies so we need to take that into account.
“Monaco is a place where even more than skill is required, you need a lot of guts to push to the limit. I’m not setting any targets, I’m just aiming to do the best I can in every session and hopefully we can come away with good experience and a good result.”
Al Faisal’s first laps around the MonteCarlo streets will come on Thursday, 25th May, at 17.30 (local time) with the allimportant qualifying session for round three following on Friday, 26th May, at 10.00 (local time).
After a rest day on Saturday, 27th May, the Supercup race will be contested over 16 laps or a maximum duration of 30 minutes at 09.45 (local time) on Sunday, 28th May.
Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Overall Standings (after Rd2): 16th Al Faisal Al Zubair, 4pts Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup Standings (after Rd2):
8th Al Faisal Al Zubair, 4pts the criticism from former defender Adams, whose coaching tenure at Granada has ended in relegation from Rookie La Liga in Spain.
With the title race settled in Chelsea’s favour, Tottenham guaranteed to finish second and the three relegation places filled by Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Hull, attention will focus Sunday on the battle for the lucrative remaining two places in Europe’s elite club competition.
Despite winning six of their last seven games, Arsenal are in fifth place, one point behind fourth placed Liverpool and three adrift of third placed City.
If Liverpool beat relegated Middlesbrough at Anfield and City avoid defeat at struggling Watford, then, even if Arsenal win, Wenger’s side will be consigned to the indignity of Thursday nights in the unglamourous Europa League next term.