Arsenal have already benefited from one change to the Europa League format this season and another effectively rules out the prospect of a nightmare scenario repeating itself.
Due to a lowly eighth-placed Premier League finish in the 2020/21 campaign, the Gunners were not involved in any European competition last term. As a result, they were not affected by UEFA's announcement with regard to the major changes for the Europa League's 51st season which were as follows:
"The group stage has been reduced from 48 to 32 teams – eight groups of four. The eight group winners progress automatically to the round of 16. There will be additional knockout round play-offs prior to the round of 16; these will be between the eight UEFA Europa League group runners-up and the eight third-ranked teams from the UEFA Champions League groups."
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These changes ultimately gave the Europa League something of a Champions League feel, but only for the group winners as two extra games - previously the round of 32 stage - are avoided with the eight runners-up facing a knockout play-off tie and the third-placed teams transferring to the Europa Conference League.
And as Arsenal topped their Europa League group which contained PSV Eindhoven, FK Bodo/Glimt and FC Zurich, it meant they were able to experience the benefits of the competition's new alterations by receiving a bye into the round of 16 where they've been drawn against Sporting CP.
Away from home this evening in the first-leg, previously the north London outfit would have had the incentive to score at least one goal in Portugal to improve their chances of reaching the quarter-final. However, another rule change since Mikel Arteta's side were last involved in the knockout stage of the competition is the away goals rule has been removed.
Abolished at the beginning of the 2021/22 season, previously the away goals rule was applied to determine the winner of a two-legged knockout tie in cases where the two teams had scored the same number of goals on aggregate over the two matches.
Of course, this rule has haunted Arsenal a few times in the past decade or so. Perhaps the most heart-breaking one came in the Champions League as despite beating AS Monaco 2-0 away from home, they crashed out at the last-16 stage by virtue of the Ligue 1 side scoring three times at the Emirates Stadium.
Then most recently in the 2019/2020 season, the Gunners were eliminated by Olympiacos after the Europa League round of 32 clash had finished 2-2 on aggregate after extra-time as Youssef El-Arabi struck in the 119th minute to ensure the Greek outfit progressed thanks to the away goals rule.
Now that the rule has been scrapped, it means Arsenal cannot be dumped out of the Europa League this season on away goals with UEFA confirming how knockout ties will be settled if there the two teams are level at the end of the second leg.
"Ties in which the two teams score the same number of goals over the two legs are no longer decided on the number of goals scored away," a statement reads. "Instead, two 15-minute periods of extra-time are played at the end of the second leg. If the teams score the same number of goals or no goals during this extra time, a penalty shoot-out determines the team that qualifies for the next stage of the competition."
Effectively this means the only positive result for Arsenal in Lisbon is victory. Unlike in the past when a 1-1 draw in the away leg followed up by a goalless draw at home would be enough to qualify for the next round, that set of results nowadays triggers an extra 30 minutes and the possibility of a penalty shoot-out.
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