Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has admitted that a recent UEFA decision does give Tottenham Hotspur an advantage ahead of next week’s North London derby – but then changed his mind immediately.
The Emirates Stadium plays host next Sunday as Arteta’s side welcome Tottenham, who will look to boost their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.
Three days before that, both sides resume their Europa League campaign and the two North Londoners were supposed to kick off their last-16 clash against Olympiacos and Dinamo Zagreb respectively with away ties originally.
And although Arsenal are still travelling to Greece on Thursday, the Lilywhites’ fixture has been reversed to mean that Jose Mourinho’s side will play their home leg first.
What this means is that Tottenham no longer have to leave the country before going to the Emirates and although Arteta first conceded that it gave Mourinho and co an advantage, the Spaniard insisted he did not want to make any excuses.
He told Football London when asked if the fixture change gives Spurs an edge: “It does. But unfortunately we’re not going to change that. We can raise our voices and we should do that, because we want to have at least two teams that are in equal conditions.
“But the decision has been made and that’s it. I don’t want to use one bit of an excuse going towards that game saying ‘ah they have an advantage’. So, no probably I will use that to take it into our advantage that’s it.”
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