Mikel Arteta admits Arsenal heading to Zurich with weak squad

Mikel Arteta’s side will face FC Zurich for the first time ever.

Mikel Arteta and Arsenal will kick off their Europa League campaign on Thursday with a trip to Switzerland to face FC Zurich.

The Swiss side are back in European football after a four-year absence and they will face Arsenal for the first time ever.

Zurich defeated Linfield and Hearts in the qualifying stages to reach the groups. Meanwhile, Arsenal finished 5th last season to find a place in Europa League.

Ahead of their away encounter, Arteta admitted that Arsenal will be far from fully fit to begin their European campaign, with Emile Smith Rowe a notable absence.

“He felt discomfort in an area that [he’s been dealing with] now for a few weeks. He wasn’t comfortable after the game and he hasn’t trained in the last few days, so he’s out of the squad.”

“We don’t have that many players available, unfortunately, with injuries we’ve picked up in the last two weeks.

“This is a competition that we want to take very seriously, against an opponent that is going to make life difficult for us.

“We want to start the competition the right way and maintain our momentum.”

Zurich are not in good form as they added just two points from seven games in their domestic league. In spite of this, Arteta is not allowing himself to take the foot off the gas.

“The biggest danger is that, after the season they had last year, they (Zurich) haven’t got the results that they expected (this season).

“You can see how willing they are to win football matches. This is a different competition, a different context and I expect a team that is going to be very ready tomorrow.”

Arsenal have never lost a game against a Swiss side. They have won all six games. On the other side, Zurich have won only three games against the English sides before and all three came at home.

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