The Europa League group stage has been and gone, and, if nothing else, it’s been a novel experience.
If fans were dreading that the Europa League wouldn’t be anywhere near as stimulating and significant as the Champions League, they were proven right. At times, the competition has lived up to its seedy reputation as a low-quality, low-interest grind for teams of Arsenal’s stature.
Yet, this year’s group stage hasn’t been without incident. While Arsenal comfortably topped their group to reach the knockout stage, there have been some moments of interest.
So as we look ahead to Monday’s round of 32 draw, here are five lessons and highlights from the group stage.
4. Strength in depth
One of the biggest concerns about playing in the Europa League was the short amount of rest between games.
Playing on a Thursday night meant Arsenal would always play the following Sunday.
This routine has tripped up clubs in the past, but it turned out to be barely an issue for Arsenal.
In five league fixtures following our Europa League games, we’ve won two, drawn two and lost one.
This is due to Arsene Wenger heavily rotating his starting eleven and ensuring that his main Premier League team got adequate rest ahead of their next game, while simultaneously giving competitive minutes to the players who needed it.
With the standard set to increase in the knockout rounds, Arsenal may not be able to rotate as heavily as before.
However, they should have the squad to cope with it.