After Ostersunds dead rubber, the time will come for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal to take the Europa League seriously

As Arsenal move into March’s last-16 and April’s quarter-finals, there will come a point when they have to take this competition more seriously than anything else

Arsene Wenger must decide which competition to prioritise (Getty)

For the final time this season, Arsenal’s Europa League match this week will be overshadowed by their domestic commitments. Arsenal host FK Ostersunds tomorrow night in a tie which they already lead 3-0. Everyone’s attentions will ultimately be on Sunday, when Arsenal go back to Wembley to play for the Carabao Cup against Manchester City.

That is why Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey are not being rushed back tomorrow night, although they are in contention for Sunday. Arsenal do not want to overcommit resources to a dead game on Thursday when they have a very live and important one three days later. Especially given City have been resting since getting knocked out of the FA Cup on Monday night.

But it will not always be like this. After Sunday, whatever happens at Wembley, and presuming that Arsenal manage to avoid disaster on Thursday night, then the Europa League will become Arsenal’s only way of saving their season. They are still stuck in sixth in the table, eight points and plenty of goal difference behind Chelsea – with Tottenham far nearer – and so the chances of them qualifying for next season’s Champions League are extremely slim.

So once this last-32 is navigated, and Arsenal move into March’s last-16 and April’s quarter-finals, there will come a point when they have to take this competition more seriously than anything else.

That happened last year with Manchester United, when Jose Mourinho realised that he was not going to finish fourth, so he focused on the Europa League instead. And it worked: United beat Ajax in the final to ensure they made it into this season’s Champions League.

Soon enough Wenger will have to do the same, if he wants this Arsenal season to end with something approaching glory in Lyon on 16 May, and a passage into the 2018-19 Champions League. There are some serious teams likely to be in the last-16: Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Milan, Sporting and Marseille. Teams that Arsenal’s second string will not be able to beat but their first-string could.

There are several big clubs left in the Europa League (Getty)

Danny Welbeck will start up front tomorrow night although when Alexandre Lacazette returns from his knee injury he will likely become Arsenal’s specialist Europa League number 9. The £53million man has been squeezed out of the Premier League side by the arrival of Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, who is cup-tied for the remainder of the competition.

Wenger is not going to risk Ozil or Ramsey this evening but they will have to be integrated into the Europa League team in time. Arsenal’s Premier League run in – aside from a trip to Old Trafford on 28 April – is relatively straightforward. What they need is to keep this run going in Europe, if it means dropping even more points, falling further away in their futile league campaign.