Arsène Wenger claims that the Gunners won’t sacrifice any competitions this season, despite the extra demands as a result of Europa League football.

Wenger was speaking ahead of a week where Arsenal play West Bromwich Albion on Monday, followed by a trip to BATE Borisov on Thursday before returning for a match against Brighton at the weekend, reports ESPN.

However, despite the risks therefore faced by the Arsenal squad, the manager claims that the Gunners can’t afford to take any one competition lightly to ease the burden, saying: “With the pressure that every club is under now, you cannot sacrifice any competition.

“You know that you could pay the price sometimes for it because if you go further in the League Cup, at some stage you play semifinals where you are home and away in January, and you have the FA Cup, the Premiership. Sometimes you lose players in these competitions.”

So far, the only real problems the Gunners have had have been in the Premier League. Despite a bit of a freak goal that put Arsenal behind against Köln, the final 3-1 scoreline was more than a fair reflection of their dominance, I felt, with 72% of the possession and almost twice as many shots on target.

Meanwhile, the League Cup performance against Doncaster wasn’t particularly impressive, but it also never looked like being a loss for Arsenal, just a standard win, in my opinion.

Even the league form has improved after the opening three games, but this week will provide another test for the Gunners to show they can handle the demands of Thursday night football alongside domestic affairs.