The relentless nature of our current fixture list means that Mikel Arteta is looking to put the disappointment of not beating Fulham quickly behind us by claiming another Champions League victory.
VAR intervened to disallow what seemed to be a late Bukayo Saka winner at Craven Cottage and deny us a victory we merited, but Mikel is glad we’ve not had too much time to dwell on that setback with a switch in gears to European action just a few days later.
The boss believes the competitive nature of every Premier League fixture stands us in good stead for these continental challenges, and should have us prepared to grab three points against Monaco that would put us tantalisingly close to securing a top-eight finish in the league phase.
Read more Champions League: How many points do you need?
Looking back on Sunday, he said: “To concede what we conceded and how the hell we drew that game, it’s difficult to understand but that’s the beauty of football as well. We will adapt and obviously pull our heads up.
“It was disappointing, it was very emotional as well because scoring the second one and it being disallowed, it was tough. We have to move – every three days it’s another opportunity and we need to keep going.
“We have to do a lot of the things that we do in the Premier League. The tendency always is to look at the Champions League like something else, so how big is the Premier League and how big is the Champions League? We’ve faced incredible difficult opposition every week and that’s the good thing.
“We’re coming up now against a very good team in Monaco, they’re doing incredibly well and they are so used to it because we play every three days against this kind of opposition. The Champions League is different in certain ways, but there are similarities in the way that we have to compete day in, day out in the league.”
Monaco had into his game level on points with ourselves in the Champions League standings and sitting third in Ligue 1. The three wins from their last five in the competition are as many as they’d managed in their previous 19, and Mikel feels they’ll be a tough test - as you would expect in Europe’s premier club competition.
“I’m really impressed,” he added. “They’re a really good side, you see the run they’ve been on in the Champions League and in the league, especially against top opposition, so a real threat. A team that is superbly well organised, really intense, really good in transition moments as well with a lot of quality, so it’s going to be a very good test for us tomorrow.
“We have a really good link as well with Arsene [Wenger], Thierry [Hnery] as well. There’s a big history there. It’s a very special club, a special place, so we welcome them here and will hopefully be better than them to try to win the game.”
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