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Mikel Arteta wants to see 'courage' from Arsenal during hostile Olympiacos test

REUTERS
REUTERS

Mikel Arteta has urged Arsenal not to “hide” in the hostile atmosphere at Olympiacos tomorrow night.

The Gunners travel to the Stadio Georgios Karaiskakis for their Europa League last 32, first leg clash here in Athens aiming to keep up a two-pronged assault on Champions League qualification.

The stadium only holds just over 30,000 supporters but Arsenal are expecting a wall of noise to greet them as Arteta takes charge of his first European knockout tie.

And when asked how the club’s youngsters will handle the occasion, the Spaniard said: “They can have the best intention but they need to go to a stadium like here and when they make a mistake or a bad decision, have the courage to try again and play again.

“And I want to see that in my players, whether they are 17 or 35. That’s what I expect from them. If they keep trying, they have my full support. If they hide after that, I don’t like it.

“But what I’ve seen up to now, every time they play on that field they are responding really, really well. That’s what I am hoping and I am sure they will do it tomorrow.”

Arteta played down rumours of a rift with Matteo Guendouzi after dropping him against Newcastle last weekend amid rumours over a training ground disagreement centring on the Frenchman’s attitude.

“I just do my team selection and the squad in regards to how they train, how they play, how they behave,” he said. “Every week it will be different. One week it will be one reason, one week it will be another reason.

“It was about the way we train, the way we play, the way we live. I want the best players for the game and I select them in relation to what I see on a daily basis.”

(Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
(Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Guendouzi and new January signing Pablo Mari were both part of the squad which boarded the flight from London this afternoon and Arteta hinted he was prepared to name a strong side despite playing Watford on Sunday.

Due to the 10pm local kick-off time, Arsenal will stay an extra night in Greece and fly back on Friday morning rather than follow the usual procedure of making the journey home straight after the game.

“We had a break of 15 days,” he said. “We played just one game [against Newcastle] so tomorrow I’m going to send out a team that I think is the best to play. The rest of the game will take care of itself. We cannot control everything. Sometimes you think about resting somebody and in training he gets a little issue or he gets sick. So tomorrow we will send out a team that we think is the best to beat Olympiacos and the rest of the teams after that will take care of themselves.”

Mesut Ozil remained in London with his wife due to give birth while Lucas Torreira was also left behind due to illness.

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