Olivier Giroud insists Arsenal should be strong enough to win the Europa League - even though they are resting players.

Giroud will start against Cologne on Thursday night but seven big guns Petr Cech, Laurent Koscielny, Alexandre Lacazette, Danny Welbeck, Granit Xhaka, Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey all sat out training this morning and will not be involved.

Alexis Sanchez and Jack Wilshere could both start and Giroud - who is one goal away from reaching a 100 landmark for the club - says the line-up will be good enough to win.

Giroud said: “We’ve got at least two good teams and have a lot of competition in the team. It’s very nice for everybody because we need to be focused and competitive.

Olivier Giroud has opened up about his summer transfer wrangle (
Image:
PA)

“We need to keep the focus high and always improve ourselves. It’s always nice to have good players alongside you and to push you forward, so trust me, we’ve got a very good team on paper tomorrow.”

Giroud also admitted he did a lot of soul searching before deciding to stay in the summer as West Ham, Everton, Marseille and Lyon all tried to sign him after the arrival of Alexandre Lacazette.

“It’s true that I was close to leaving the club because I said that I wanted to play, but after a big reflection with everybody around me like my family and my close friends in a supportive way, I wanted to stay at the Arsenal and I thought the story was not over, finished at Arsenal,” he said.

Video Loading

“The club bring me a lot and I think I give it back and I still want to improve again and again and win some more trophies for the club, so as I said to the boss our story was not finished, so everybody was pleased with that.

“Obviously for a striker it’s always important to score, the statistics are very important, and I keep it in a part of my mind, but the most important for me is to win obviously and after the goals will come.

“If we play well and we play our game and we are very focused on this Europa League, we want to go and win it, we are very ambitious and I am looking forward to the game tomorrow.”

Wenger insists winning the Europa League will not be their best chance of getting a Champions League place and is clearly prioritising the domestic campaign by resting players for Chelsea.

Arsene Wenger talks tactics ahead of the game (
Image:
Action Images via Reuters)

Wenger, who confirmed Francis Coquelin is out for three weeks with a hamstring injury, said: “It’s not our best chance, no. It is one of the opportunities. I came out and many times and said I think the best way is through the Premier League.

“This is a different competition and we want to win every competition we play in, but we don’t calculate that this is the best way to the Champions League qualification. We have done that for 20 years and 20 years by doing it in the Premier League.

“The disappointment for not finishing in the top four was there, of course, but unfortunately we were one point short. We made 75 points last year and overall I am humble enough to be happy enough to win every single competition.”

poll loading

Will Arsenal win the Europa League?

33000+ VOTES SO FAR