Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech hopes his side take the Europa League seriously this season, and maybe mirror the efforts of Manchester United last season in the competition.

Cech is a Europa League winner with Chelsea from the 12/13 season, after finishing third in their Champions League group and being relegated to the competition. His Arsenal side finished outside of the top 4 last season, so will begin life this season in the Europa League for the first time in 20 years.

Arsenal visit Cologne on Thursday night, and Cech believes they have a choice to make about whether or not to take the competition seriously.

“You make your decision,” he told Standard Sport. “At Chelsea, we were really disappointed to have been knocked of the group stage [of the Champions League] but we decided that for the first time and the last time, hopefully, we play in the Europa League so we want to win.”

“So you decide what you want to do — either you take it seriously and you go to win it and you give yourself the chance to do it or you give yourself different priorities and see how it goes.”

Wenger is expected to give chances to various players in the Europa League this season, including fringe players and academy prospects. Cech also insists that star man Alexis Sanchez is raring to go in the competition, and hopes to win.

Cech said: “I spoke with Alexis and he wants to win.”

“Sometimes people say ‘he does this, he does that’ but I think in a way, he is a guy who plays with all his passion and all his heart.”