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Football London
Football London
Sport
Laurie Martin

Mikel Arteta's PSV headache grows as Bodo/Glimt top Arsenal's Europa League group

Arsenal face Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt twice in the space of seven days next month. Following the postponement of their game against PSV Eindhoven, the Gunners' next two Europa League games are against the Norwegian side.

The Eliteserien outfit climbed to the top of the group on Thursday night with a 2-1 victory over FC Zurich, following up their impressive 1-1 draw with PSV last week.

Bodo/Glimt showed what they're capable of on the European stage last season, beating Roma twice (once by a score of 6-1), Celtic twice and AZ Alkmaar - all on their run to the quarter-finals in the Europa Conference League.

READ MORE: Arsenal's Premier League squad confirmed as Bukayo Saka and William Saliba absence explained

Managed by Kjetil Knutsen - who has been linked with the vacant Brighton managerial post - Bodo/Glimt certainly pose a threat, and may cause Mikel Arteta some headaches as Arsenal head into their remaining group games. The Gunners will play nine games in October - a match every 3.4 days - and Arteta may have been hoping to rotate a lot of his team against Bodo/Glimt.

But based on the evidence so far in the Europa League, the Norwegian side are capable of causing an upset against the Gunners, and therefore Arteta may not want to make wholesale changes, knowing that dropped points could prove decisive in their quest to qualify from the group.

Arteta may opt to field a strong team against Bodo/Glimt and if they are to win back-to-back games against them, that will put them in a healthy position in the group, perhaps allowing the Gunners boss to rest key players against PSV when qualification to the knockout stages looks more likely.

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