Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Football London
Football London
Sport
Joe Doyle

Arsenal news: Arteta reveals Matteo Guendouzi Olympiacos choice, Cazorla details Gunners dream

After two weeks without a game, Arsenal are in action twice in the space of three days this week.

Tonight sees the return of the Europa League knockout phase and the Gunners face a difficult round of 32 tie against Olympiacos, with the first-leg taking place away from home.

Then it's back to Premier League matters on Sunday with the visit of Alex Iwobi and Theo Walcott's Everton - two points above Mikel Arteta's side in the table - to north London.

Art de Roche in Athens ahead of Arsenal vs Olympiacos

The Gunners will go into those games on the back of a 4-0 win over Newcastle United which means confidence should be high ahead of the trip to Greece.

As ever, football.london will have all the build-up to the game at the Karaiskakis Stadium.

With that said, here's all the news from around the Emirates Stadium over the past 24 hours.

Arteta's press conference

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has spoken out about his decision to leave Matteo Guendouzi out of the Gunners' squad to face Newcastle United at the weekend.

Mikel Arteta at Arsenal's open training session before heading to Olympiacos (Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

The 20-year-old was dropped from the squad for Sunday's 4-0 win over Newcastle United after Arteta had reportedly been less than impressed with his attitude to training.

However, he has been restored to the squad for the Europa League last 32 first leg clash with Olympiacos, with the Frenchman joining the rest of the Arsenal travelling party on the journey to Greece.

And Arteta has moved to explain why he chose to leave him out on Sunday, but has now included him for the European clash.

Expected team

Arsenal are seven points off fourth in the Premier League, a sizeable gap given their form over 26 games, whilst the Europa League poses plenty of challenges for those bidding to win it and return to Europe's top table. Standing in the Gunners' way could well be Manchester United, Inter Milan, Ajax or Sevilla.

Alexandre Lacazette celebrates after scoring for Arsenal against Newcastle United. ((Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images))

For now it is Olympiacos that the Gunners must face and a trip to the Karaiskakis Stadium, a ground where they have lost twice in three visits. It is a match that should offer plenty of indication as to how seriously Arteta takes the Europa League.

So who will be lining up for the Gunners in Athens?

Cazorla on his Arsenal dream

Former Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla has set his sights on one day returning to the Emirates Stadium to say goodbye to the club's supporters, the Villarreal man has revealed.

Cazorla spent six years in North London donning the Gunners' famous red shirt before departing in the summer of 2018 after a collection of serious injuries.

It was a bitter way for Cazorla's Arsenal career to end in after being such a technically gifted performer during his time with the club.

And he has been speaking about a possible comeback...

Behind the scenes at training

Matteo Guendouzi during Arsenal's training session (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

There were plenty of reasons why Arsenal hired Mikel Arteta in December but very near the top of his extensive list of credentials must have been his impressive work on the training ground with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and others raved about his work with them as the Citizens' assistant and the initial response from Arsenal players has been equally glowing, with minor details such as running with the ball when space opens up and major tactical tweaks on the left flank winning plenty of praise.

For most Wednesday's open training session represented a first time to see how Arteta and his staff went about their business now that he is the Arsenal head coach.

While the staff are forced to put on a 15-minute training session for the cameras, they do offer an insight into how squads and in particular the coaching staff are working together, who is responsible for what and how the boss fits into all of this.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.