As Arsenal prepare for their return to the UEFA Champions League next season, manager Mikel Arteta has opened up about the new challenges the club will face due to the competition’s revamped format.

Under the new system, the traditional group stage has been replaced by a 36-team single league, where each side will play eight other teams just once – four games at home and four away. This means the Gunners will be facing a minimum of eight European matches in the 2024/25 campaign, and potentially as many as 17 if they make it all the way to the final in Munich.

“Every game is going to be crucial,” Arteta told Arsenal Media. “You want to finish as high as possible, and in order to do that you have to win every game. You can play against any opposition at any ground. That’s great and it gives you a great chance to see very early in the season, where you are, what your level is and how much you have progressed through the competition. Obviously, that’s going to be elevated to a different level.”

The main difference, as Arteta explains, is that whereas Arsenal previously played three different teams in the old group stages, they must now prepare to face seven teams in the first half of the season, adding to the workload of the club’s analysts and coaching staff.

“Yes, we’re going to have to prepare many more games,” Arteta said. “Our analysts and ourselves as coaches, we’re going to have very, very different demands. So we’re going to put things in place to try to be more efficient, to simplify the messages as well.

“Because the preparation of games is going to be really short, so we’re going to have to maximise that time to give as much clarity and belief to the players to go and execute what they have to do to win the game.”

With the new Champions League format set to add significant strain to Arsenal’s schedule, Arteta and his team will need to draw on all their tactical and organizational acumen to ensure the Gunners navigate the challenges ahead and secure their place among Europe’s elite.