Arteta rates Arsenal's Europa chances after Slavia Prague setback

Mikel Arteta remains fully confident that Arsenal will progress in the Europa League despite conceding a late goal against Slavia Prague.

Mikel Arteta is choosing to remain optimistic about Arsenal’s Europa League chances despite a ‘disappointing’ goal conceded against Slavia Prague in the last minute of their Europa League encounter.

Nicolas Pepe came off the bench as the Gunners searched for a goal and the win at the Emirates. The Ivorian looked to have put the game to bed after scoring five minutes from time but it was another familiar story for the north London side. They could not see off the game and Tomas Holes headed home an equalizer to make it 1-1, giving Slavia a crucial away goal.

There should be no excuse after tonight. We are going to Prague with not only this season on the line, but also the whole long-term future as well. Arteta can’t make any mistakes, and the players have to pay the fans back.
— Eduardo Hagn (@EduardoHagn) April 8, 2021

The result means Arsenal will need to score at least once in Prague next week and also hope to outscore their opponents in the process. It is a tricky situation for the Gunners but Arteta is certain his side can get the job done and advance further in the Europa League.

“I totally believe that we can go there and win the match, if not I wouldn’t be sitting here” he said as per the club’s website.

“The mindset has to be to go there and score goals and win the game because we have to score if we want to go through.”

“I think psychologically to go there with 1-0 is completely different to go there with 1-1. Now we know we have to go there and win the game – that we have to score goals and we cannot play any game, we have to go there with the determination to be an attacking team and hurt them.”

Arsenal missed lots of chances in the first half and could have easily gone three goals up. The likes of Alexandre Laazette, Bukayo Saka and Willian all missed their opportunities. Arteta says the Gunners were left to rue those missed chances.

💬 "You're not going to have 10 chances. When you have those big chances you have to put them in the net."

📺 Watch the full interview with the boss after tonight's #UEL action 👇
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 8, 2021

“When you create big chances in Europe you really have to put them away” added the Spaniard.

“I think we made much more than the result that we got but we made it the most difficult thing was to score the first goal and then in the last four or five minutes to manage the game much better than we did.”

“It puts the tie in a much more different position and looking back to what happened on the pitch it is not what we expected.”