Mikel Arteta gives huge hint about what sort of team he will select against Olympiacos

Mikel Arteta makes it clear what sort of team he will put out in Europa League Thursday evening.

Under Unai Emery, it was fairly certain that a weakened team would be put out in the Europa League, maybe not in the semi-finals and Final but definitely in the group stages and early rounds. That is unlikely to happen under Mikel Arteta.

Arteta was asked specifically if he would be rotating the team and this is what he had to say at the press conference earlier today as quoted on Arsenal.com

“We’ve had a break of 15 days and we’ve played just one game. So tomorrow I’m going to put out a team that I think is the best to play. Then the rest of the games will take care of themselves. You cannot control that sometimes you are thinking about resting somebody and in training he gets a little issue or he gets sick. So tomorrow we are going to put out the team that we think is the best to play Olympiacos and the rest of the teams and games will follow”

That to me is a massive hint that he will be putting out the strongest team possible, I am not sure there is any other way to take “I’m going to put out a team that I think is the best to play”

So, I do expect that there will not be too many changes from the team that Arteta put out against Newcastle United last Sunday. He may rest one or two but I doubt there will be any wholesale changes.

But then again, maybe he is playing mind games and giving his opponents misinformation.