Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has explained his team selection for the Europa League clash with Olympiacos.
The Gunners line-up that was chosen to start in Greece showed two changes from the 1-1 draw against Burnley at the weekend, with Hector Bellerin and Gabriel Magalhaes both recalled.
That meant Calum Chambers and Pablo Mari made way as Arteta slightly reshuffled his defence in search of a first clean sheet across any competition since the end of January.
Meanwhile, the likes of Bernd Leno, Kieran Tierney, Thomas Partey, Bukayo Saka, and captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all started in a very strong Arsenal team.
Judging by the response from some Gunners supporters on Twitter, the decision not to include Nicolas Pepe or Cedric Soares from the start was a mistake on Arteta's part.
And even with big game against Tottenham on the horizon, the Spaniard insists he did not give Sunday's clash too much thought when naming his team to face Olympiacos.
"Nothing," Arteta said to BT Sport when asked how much the north London derby was on his mind regarding the team selection.
"We are completely focused on tonight, we have a tough game ahead of us against a really good opponent and our focus and our mind is on this game which is the most important one right now.
"We've been changing a few players each game and we believe for the game we have to play today they were two substitutions that can give us qualities that we need for today and I am sure that they will do really well."
Meanwhile, there is a place on the bench for Emile Smith Rowe.
The 20-year-old limped off during the 3-1 win over Leicester City with a hip injury that caused him to miss the draw at Burnley, but after one training session, he is back in contention.
"Well, he's only trained one day which was yesterday so he wasn't fully ready to start the game, but he's fully fit to give us something different if we need it from the bench."
