Arsenal welcome PSV Eindhoven to the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night and Mikel Arteta will need to decide whether he will rotate his team ahead of a Premier League clash with Chelsea
Mikel Arteta will hope Arsenal’s clash against Feyenoord is as easy as the first-leg win.
The Gunners welcome their Dutch opponents to the Emirates with a 7-1 advantage and a place in the Champions League quarter-finals all but confirmed. The north London side will hope to find a modicum of momentum after failing to take three points against Manchester United however, and next face Chelsea in the Premier League, who will be looking to narrow the gap to their London rivals.
The pressure is clearly on Arteta, despite the injuries his side is suffering, and two wins heading into the international break will help alleviate some of that. But Wednesday night could yet see Arsenal uncover another young talent to follow in the footsteps of Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly if the opportunity arises.
Mirror Football takes a look at the latest news and rumours surrounding Arsenal.
Saliba responds to transfer interest
Arsenal defender William Saliba has claimed he wants to continue his career at the Emirates, amid talk of a potential move to Real Madrid. The Spanish giants have been reported to be interested in making a move for the Frenchman, and have even been said to be in touch with Saliba’s camp.
“For me, I’m really happy here,” he told reporters however. “I’ve been here for two years and a half as well. There is nothing. I’m happy here and I want to continue here.”
“I think we are very close, we need to keep going,” Saliba added on Arsenal’s trophy ambitions. “We can’t stop working. When you’re close and don’t win trophies it’s sad, with work we will make a big step and I am sure we will arrive there.”
Arteta verdict
William Gallas believes that Arsenal’s efforts in recent seasons under Mikel Arteta have been unacceptable. The ex-Gunners defender reckons the team should have won the Premier League, possibly twice, under the Spaniard’s tutelage.
Gallas told Prime Casino : “It’s unacceptable for Arsenal to be making the same mistakes year-after-year with the same manager. I don’t want to hear the excuses, I don’t want to hear about injuries. There are no excuses that are good enough when you’ve got a winning mentality.
“I don’t think he has it because Arsenal should have won at least one, maybe two titles and they couldn’t get it over the line.
“Arteta played the game, he knows that injuries can happen at any time, he knows that he can lose key players, that’s why you need to have a big squad. If you want to win, you don’t win the league with only 11 players.”
Line-up vs PSV
Mikel Arteta is weighing-up whether to rotate his side against PSV, with Arsenal already having one foot in the next round of the Champions League. The former midfielder believes things could have turned out differently against the Dutch opposition if it wasn’t for narrow margins and does not want to take them lightly however.
“It is unique but it’s also understanding how the game was played a week ago and the fact that everything went in the right direction for us from the beginning,” he said. “We’re going to have to earn the right tomorrow to go in the same direction, so we’re fully focused on that.
“We understand what happened in the first game and the direction that it could have taken in the first 10 minutes. After all the control that we had, if we give the goal away or if the referee would have given the second yellow card to Myles, it’s very simple. This is football, you have to earn it and we’re going to have to do a great job tomorrow again to win the game.”
It could be a night for academy players to be rewarded for their efforts however. The likes of Nathan Butler-Oyedeji could find an opportunity to presented.
“They’ve been extremely helpful, and bringing so much to the team,” he said. “Whenever you have the opportunity to any player to say thank you or to give minutes, which in the end is the way of telling them that we trust you and we appreciate what you do for us, we will do.”
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