Eyes on the Europa League? Arsene Wenger rings the changes for Arsenal vs Watford

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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has named a somewhat experimental side for today’s Premier League clash against Watford.

Some big names drop to the bench despite playing key roles in the midweek Europa League win over AC Milan, with Calum Chambers, Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck among those taken out of the first XI.

Meanwhile, Laurent Koscielny and Aaron Ramsey don’t even make the squad as they are rested for this weekend’s league clash.

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This could be a sign of Wenger now prioritising the Europa League as Arsenal’s best chance of making it into the Champions League next season as a top four spot looks beyond them.

The Gunners are a whopping 13 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham at the moment and it would surely take a minor miracle for them to claw that back between now and May.

However, having won 2-0 in Milan Arsenal are in a great position to progress further in the Europa League so may now be factoring that in with their approach for the visit of Watford today.

It’s still a strong team with big names like Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang starting, but youngsters such as Rob Holding and Ainsley Maitland-Niles also get rare starts.

Alex Iwobi is also restored, and Petr Cech returns as Arsenal’s number one league ‘keeper in place of David Ospina.

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