Three things learned as Arsenal secure a place in the quarter-finals of the Europa League

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Arsenal suffered a 1-0 defeat at home to Olympiacos at the Emirates this evening, but that wasn’t enough for the Greek champions to repeat last season’s heroics.

Mikel Arteta’s men have secured a place in the quarter-finals, but the Arsenal boss wouldn’t have been happy with the performance.

Here are three things we learned from the game:

Play a number 10 at number 10

Arteta started Dani Ceballos in a number 10 position this evening. It is safe to say, it didn’t work out.

The Arsenal boss’ decision is understandable. He wanted some who could help out defensively as well as aid our attacks. On paper, Ceballos checks all the boxes, but it ruined our balance today, didn’t it?

Arteta should either play a natural number 10 behind Aubameyang or he should just switch to a 4-3-3, which is far more ideal for a player like Ceballos.

Give David Luiz a new contract

The game was by no means a masterclass by David Luiz, but it showed that the likes of Gabriel, Rob Holding and the rest need an experienced head like him around to calm things down.

A younger defensive pairing tonight could’ve easily panicked after the visitors scored. Luiz kept his calm, slowed the game down when required and helped us get over the line in the end.

The Brazilian will be out of contract this summer. A decision is yet to be made about his future, but if recent performances are anything to go by, keeping him around wouldn’t be too bad an idea.

Auba’s confidence dented?

The Arsenal skipper returned to the starting lineup today after facing Arteta’s wrath at the weekend. It really looked like whatever happened behind the scenes was still on his mind, which really is worrying.

Auba had two very easy chances tonight and he made a mess out of both of them. His body language wasn’t great either, and it really was a surprise that Arteta didn’t take him off in the second half.

All of us hoped that Auba’s confidence wouldn’t have been dented by whatever happened on Sunday. Sadly, his performance tonight looked like he was still hurting from his punishment.