Mikel Arteta will not sacrifice the Europa League to help Arsenal win a first top-flight title since 2004, even though he says a renewed Thursday-to-Sunday schedule will alter how he manages his squad.
Arsenal hold a realistic hope of challenging in Europe even if their last-16 assignment, revealed on Friday to be Sporting, should present a challenge. But they are inching closer to a remarkable domestic triumph and Arteta, who has been reluctant to tweak his team overly for league games and fielded relatively strong lineups for the Europa League group stage during the autumn, was asked whether he would be compelled to prioritise.
“We will try to pick, all the time, the team we believe is the best to win on the day,” he said. “Because if you do something different people will say: ‘Why did you pick this team and we didn’t win in the Europa League?’ You’re never going to win that battle. We’re going to pick the players that are in the best possible condition, because it’s really important to win the game to be in a better condition to win the next one.”
The first leg against Sporting, which will bring a reunion with the former Arsenal right-back Héctor Bellerín, will take place in Lisbon on 9 March and the return a week later. Should Arsenal progress to the final, they will have handled six Thursday night assignments between March and mid-May. Such a schedule will change the dynamic of how Arteta works.
“A lot,” he said. “We’re going to have much less time to train and recover. I’m sure we’re going to have to share many more minutes around the squad, which is great because we’re going to have to give opportunities to everyone.”
Maintaining, or even increasing, their two-point lead over Manchester City is overwhelmingly Arteta’s priority this weekend. They travel to Leicester on Saturday in search of a second successive win in the Midlands having dramatically overcome Aston Villa. Thomas Partey may be fit but Jorginho, whose shot led to the decisive goal at Villa Park, is likely to keep his starting place.
Bukayo Saka is close to signing a new contract and Arteta, who offered no update, hailed the forward’s toughness. The issue of protection has come under the spotlight again after Saka, who received some heavy treatment from Villa, spent periods of that game limping, but he has started all of Arsenal’s league games and played 90 minutes in their past 11.
“I really see his determination and where he wants to get,” Arteta said. “We have discussed that a lot in individual talks with him and he really wants to get there. He will have that resilience and that capacity to constantly show a certain level and always be available. In the end, he has a great physical element to be able to do that every three days.
“I don’t see [rough treatment] like he’s concerned at all. It’s a challenge he’s going to face with every opponent in front of him and he wants to win that challenge. That’s it.”
