Arsenal suffered a 1-0 loss to Manchester City in the Premier League this weekend and next up, they face Benfica in the Europa League.
The Gunners were held to a 1-1 draw by Benfica in the first leg but they did manage to get the all-important away goal and with almost a fit squad to choose from, Arteta will be hoping to progress to the next round without any major hiccups.
This weekend’s loss might be playing on the minds of many Arsenal players but there’s another big reason for the Arsenal fans to be worried about before this crucial European tie.
Speaking after the City game, the Arsenal boss has hinted that he could be looking to heavily rotate his starting line-up in midweek.
He told Arsenal.com: “Well, it’s hard because everyone wants to play and everyone wants to be available for every game, so if anything, I feel sorry for the players that they cannot play or are not playing more.
“But everybody is doing their best all the time to be available, which I really value a lot. But it’s true that there’s players with lots of minutes and we don’t have the players to replace them, unfortunately.
“I don’t know if it will be five[changes], four or seven. We will have to see how they react from today’s performance.
“It was a really tough game physically for both because it was full gas from the beginning and we will see who will be available and fit to be there.
“Obviously we need a fresh team and we need legs as well because then the decision making and everything becomes better when they are fresh. We will see who’s available.”
Arsenal have won just one out of their previous five league matches and right now they are 10th on the table. So clearly any hopes of finishing in the top-four have evaporated by now.
Winning the Europa League is the only ray of hope for the Gunners to win a major silverware under their belt this season but Arteta will be putting that in major doubt if he does make so many changes to his starting line-up on Thursday.
Benfica are not in the best of forms themselves but if the Arsenal boss decides to use a whole lot of benchwarmers on Thursday then the Portuguese side will surely be looking to go on the offensive from the very first minute.
