Mikel Arteta has admitted that it hurts to watch Arsenal’s Premier League rivals play in the Champions League and other European competitions while they stay at home.
The Gunners reached a new low last season when they finished the campaign outside the Premier League’s European spots.
They will now watch on from home while the likes of West Ham and Tottenham play in the Europa League or the Europa Conference League.
Arsenal has responded to their poor finish to last season by spending around 200 million euros on new signings.
They have still made a poor start to this campaign and only earned their first league win of the season the last time out against Norwich.
However, they are expected to take advantage of others playing in Europe to push for a place back in Europe come the end of the season.
Arteta spoke about watching European football recently and admits it hurts as his team isn’t playing in them.
Arteta said as quoted by The Daily Mail: ‘It hurts a lot in the last few days to put TV on and see those teams there, and not see Arsenal there.
‘It was painful. One hundred per cent. I don’t want to be sitting there with Arsenal out of those competitions.’