Some teams don’t take the Europa League too seriously, especially in the group stages, so being left out of the squad doesn’t always mean a player has no future at the club.
The problems come if players aren’t getting chances in the Premier League, because playing in Europe would be the ideal chance to force their way back into the team and impress the manager.
Mesut Ozil and Sokratis did look like they were out of favour at Arsenal anyway, but this pretty much confirms that they won’t be getting anywhere near the team unless there’s a total emergency:
Mesut Ozil and Sokratis Papastathopoulos are understood to have been left out of Arsenal's Europa League squad.
— James Benge (@jamesbenge) October 7, 2020
In some ways it won’t come as a total surprise, but you did wonder if Arteta would use the Europa League as a chance to keep them fresh and at least add some experience if they go with a younger squad.
It’s further proof that they don’t have a future at Arsenal, so hopefully they do manage to get a move in January to play some regular football as they approach the final years of their careers.
It looks like Arteta is cutting off his nose to spite his face.