Qualification for the knockout phase of this year's Europa League may already be secure, but Mikel Arteta has made it very clear that he wants top spot certain with time to spare.
"Last week we made the first step which was to qualify for the next round," the Spaniard said in his pre-match press conference. "We need to win tomorrow because we want to finish first."
The benefits of this approach are obvious. Even if Arsenal did look tired towards the end of their 1-1 draw with Southampton on Sunday, going strong now may prove to be like rubbing alcohol in that it will sting the Gunners now, but save them in the future. Avoiding what appears to be a strong set of teams dropping down from this season's Champions League will be huge and the benefit of playing two fewer games by going straight to the round of 16 is something Arteta is very keen on.
