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#2 Fewer injuries, more recovery time
Although Arsenal have commendable depth when it comes to attacking options, the fact that they do not have enough options in midfield and defence is a serious worry for Mikel Arteta and the coaching staff.
Arsenal's midfield options are Mesut Ozil, Joe Willock, Granit Xhaka, Dani Ceballos, Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi. Out of the aforementioned name, only one player is a natural attacking midfielder. On the other hand, Torreira and Guendouzi have a similar set of skills, while Ceballos and Willock are two box to box midfielders. Meanwhile, Granit Xhaka is their only deep-lying playmaker in midfield.
In defence, Sead Kolasinac is likely ruled out for the season, whereas Kieran Tierney is yet to string five games in a row for Arsenal without getting injured. Calum Chambers has suffered a terrible knee injury which sidelines him as well for the season, and Rob Holding has still not completely recovered from his ACL injury.
This leaves Arteta with 3 natural defenders in David Luiz, Shkodran Mustafi and Hector Bellerin, considering Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Bukayo Saka aren't defenders per se, and January arrivals Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares are yet to play a minute for Arsenal.
Solely due to these factors, getting knocked out from the Europa League won't be the worst thing to happen as the coaching staff and players could now focus on dedicating their time and efforts in getting a top-five finish in the Premier League, which is not impossible considering Arsenal are only 7 points off Frank Lampard's Chelsea, who are currently fourth in the league standings.
Furthermore, Arteta demands unreal fitness levels from his players to play the type of high-octane football he wants to see. As a matter of fact, it feels like the Spaniard has overestimated his squad's abilities. He is having a difficult time trying to ingrain his philosophy in the players, and due to lack of leaders in this Arsenal team, the onus has fallen upon players like Aubameyang to lead the team and get them out of complex situations every now and then.
