Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says he did not enjoy leaving Mesut Ozil out of his Europa League squad.

Ozil has not played a single minute since the 2019-20 season restart and was omitted from the club's European campaign.

But Arteta was quick to remind reporters that the 32-year-old was not the only player who was left out.

"He wasn't the only one who was not in the squad," Arteta told reporters on Thursday.

"It is a really difficult decision for me to make because to leave players out of the squad at that level, where they know they cannot get involved, is really tough.

"I don't like it at all, but the decision had to be made because we have an excess of foreign players. Unfortunately, we had to make that decision."