The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Arteta asks his big players to step up
Mikel Arteta is well aware results are how he will be judged at Arsenal and called on the “big players” at the club to step up in tonight’s Europa League quarterfinal second leg at Slavia Prague.
Leicester and Rangers have already been knocked out by the Czech outfit this season and Tomas Holes’ stoppage-time equaliser at the Emirates last week has given them a crucial away goal in the tie.
With Arsenal ninth in the Premier League table, winning the Europa League is their best option to qualify for Europe next season and to give the Spaniard another achievement to point towards as progress after almost 18 months in the job.
He said: “The only tangible thing is results. Whether you’re doing a good job or not, to judge it externally is only going to be judged with results.
“Internally, you know what you are doing and you can have many different ways of judging that but at the end of the day, externally results are the only important thing to give the perception that we are moving forward in the right direction.”
Defeat for Arsenal in Prague would raise questions about the future of their manager.
But the 39-year-old added: “We’ve shown that in big games, big players have to step in and create the magic moments and you need that, so let’s hope that we can have them.
“It doesn’t matter who it is but someone has to create when the team needs those moments..”
Captain Pierre-emerick Aubameyang could be absent after sitting out Tuesday’s training after missing last weekend’s win at Sheffield United with illness.
Martin Odegaard (ankle) also needs to be assessed, but Bakayo Saka (thigh) and Emile Smith Rowe (ankle) are in contention. ● Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says Manchester United’s patchy home form is partly down to the fact his players were unable to see each other clearly at Old Trafford.
Tuesday marked 25 years to the day since Sir Alex Ferguson famously ordered his players to change from their grey kit to a blue-andwhite strip midway through a 3-1 loss at Southampton.
Solskjaer joined United the season after the Dell debacle and raised the issue of spotting players ahead of tonight’s second leg against Granada.
All four of this season’s league defeats have come at home, while they suffered a key Champions League group loss to Paris St Germain there, along with the Carabao Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester City.
When that record was put to Solskjaer along with the fact United have yet to win a home Europa League game despite triumphing at Real Sociedad, AC Milan and Granada without conceding, he said: “You’ll see a change now.
“If you see the banners round the club, it’s not red anymore. We’ve looked into this.
“There shouldn’t be any reason, really, but some of the players have mentioned that you know that splitsecond decision that you have to make and the red shirt is on a red background just with the red seats.”
United replaced the red stadium wrap with black banners at the start of April.
United are well placed to seal a semi-final date against Roma or Ajax after winning the first leg 2-0 in Spain last week.
Marcus Rashford looks set to be sidelined with an ankle injury while captain Harry Maguire, midfielder Scott Mctominay and fullback Luke Shaw are suspended.