Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has challenged his side to win their next five games to boost their hopes of qualifying for Europe next season.

Arteta's side are 10th in the Premier League - 12 points off the top four, and 10 behind fifth-placed West Ham.

"I am very positive - there is still a lot to play for," said Arteta.

He added: "What we need is to put four or five wins in a row, if we are able to do that then things are going to look very different in two or three weeks' time.

"If we don't, obviously we don't have a chance because when we have had an opportunity to do it we haven't done it consistently enough."

Arsenal have been in patchy form of late, winning and losing three of their last eight games in all competitions, meaning their best chance of maintaining their record of competing in Europe in every season since 1996 may be to win this season's Europa League and qualify for next season's Champions League as a result.

The Gunners were eliminated in the last 32 of last season's Europa League by Thursday's Greek opponents, before Arteta tested positive for coronavirus and English football stopped until Project Restart on 17 June.

Arsenal won the first leg in Greece 1-0 before losing on away goals in the 120th minute of the return leg, and Arteta said the defeat was "really cruel".

"Obviously it was a really tough one to swallow," Arteta, who has won 38 of his 69 games in charge of Arsenal, said.

"We have some feelings towards that team and we want to put it right in the next round.

"The disappointment that we had to digest, it took some time to do because it was a hard one.

"Now we have another opportunity. It's the beauty of this game. It's a completely different context but the reality is the same that we have to beat them twice to go through in the competition and we have to be better than them."

Arsenal may be boosted by the return of Emile Smith Rowe, with the midfielder set to be assessed after taking a full part in training on Wednesday.