Three players who might rank among the most important in Unai Emery's squad were left behind for Arsenal's final game of the season in a sign that the Gunners' head coach is clearly prioritising the Europa League.
Mesut Ozil, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Lucas Torreira all stayed behind for the trip to Burnley but it is understood that none of the trio have any injury issues that would stop them from featuring.
Instead Emery has opted to rest three players who played at least 62 minutes in Thursday's 4-2 win at Valencia - the full 90 in the case of Sokratis - and instead has named a starting lineup that sees the trio's places taken by youth prospects Konstantinos Mavropanos, Joe Willock and Matteo Guendouzi.
Emery had indicated before the game that he intended to rotate his side even though Arsenal are guaranteed fifth place unless they beat Sean Dyche's side, who have historically posed huge difficulties for the Gunners at Turf Moor.
Were Manchester United to win at home to already-relegated Cardiff and Arsenal fail to pick up three points at Turf Moor the Gunners would slip to sixth. If Watford then go on to win the FA Cup against Manchester City in six days' time and Emery's side fail to win the Europa League then their pre-season plans would be thrown into chaos.
Arsenal would then be obliged to play in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, which kicks off in July, when the club are scheduled to tour America. It could be that the decision to leave Ozil, Sokratis and Torreira behind comes back to haunt Emery.
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