ART OF THE MATTER
Mikel Arteta has warned that Arsenal can no longer take their place among Europe’s elite for granted if they lose to Benfica.
He said: “It’s absolutely huge for this club to be represented in Europe but the competition in England is now so big that a few teams took it for granted for many years.
“It’s very difficult to convince supporters that the Europa League is like the Champions League, because it isn’t.
“The history of this club has been built on winning titles and playing in the Champions League.
“But knowing the difficulties we’ve been through in the past years, the Europa League becomes a really important competition for us and if we manage to do something important in it this season we’re all going to be happy about that.
“If you see the way this competition has evolved in the last four or five years and the teams that are involved, you would say that it’s another huge competition even if people don’t treat it that way.
“So for us it’s vital to remain in this competition because it’s an opportunity to win a trophy and also to get access back into the Champions League, which is where we want to be.”