Arsene Wenger will take charge of his 177th Champions League match when Arsenal face Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena on Wednesday, painfully aware that the 178th may well turn out to be his last.
The Arsenal manager might yet stay on at the Emirates beyond the end of this season, taking his reign past the 21-year mark, but the old certainty of the North London giants securing Champions League football -- regardless of their performance in the competition itself -- is no longer quite so secure as it has been over the past decade-and-a-half.
With the 2016-17 Premier League campaign giving us the most intense battle yet for Champions League qualification, Arsenal's participation in next season's competition is by no means guaranteed, so there really is no time like the present for Wenger and his players to seize the day when they face the German champions in Bavaria.