Unai Emery warns Arsenal the Europa League is no joke as he plans to take it seriously this season

As the most successful manager in the short history of the Europa League, the Spaniard made it clear he won't be treating the competition lightly

Unai Emery has indicated he does not intend to divide his Arsenal squad into Premier League regulars and Europa League fringe men.

The Gunners kick off at Newcastle on Saturday aiming for a third successive victory following opening month defeats by Manchester City and Chelsea.

The trip north is followed by Thursday night's Europa League curtain-raiser at home to Vorskla Poltava, currently seventh in the Ukrainian league and opponents few Gunners fans had even heard of before the group stage draw.

Whereas former manager Arsene Wenger may have wrung the changes for such a fixture – the likes of Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere, all of whom left in the summer, were all limited to European starts last season – Emery has said he won't be following suit.

As the most successful manager in the short history of the Europa League, having led Sevilla to an unprecedented three successive victories in the competition in 2014, 2015 and 2016, the Spaniard made it clear he won't be treating the competition lightly.

"I have proven with my experience to know the best way to manage the players," he said. "Now it is very important for me to think first about the match against Newcastle - we need to win the three points and then think the same for the Europa League.

"My first idea is not to change 11 players for one competition and the next competition. Each match is giving us information for how we can play. Now I want to win Saturday, I want to win Thursday, next Sunday and against Brentford. It is the reason we are looking forward to playing every match and thinking every match about the best performance."

With Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City having made strong starts, Arsenal fans could be forgiven for already regarding the Europa League as the best bet to get back in the Champions League.

Emery's Sevilla saw off Benfica, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk and Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool in each final and the 46-year-old outlined his blueprint for success in the competition.

"The first thing is to work hard," he said. "When we played in the final against Liverpool for Liverpool it was very important because they lost in the Premier League the top four, and they needed it to go into the Champions League. We won.

Unai Emery is the most successful manager in the short history of the Europa League (Getty)

"Manchester United played in it also. They got into the Champions League through into this competition. The last year for Arsenal was very, very important. We lost in the semi-finals to Atletico Madrid. The Europa League can help a lot. After the Champions League, the Europa League is the most important competition. If teams cannot play in the Champions League, it is very important."

Newcastle manager Rafa Benitez won the Europa League during his short stay at Chelsea in 2013 but now faces nothing but a battle against relegation.

The two Spaniards met as managers for the one and only time before today in November 2015 when Emery's Sevilla won 3-2 to inflict a first league defeat of the season on Real Madrid. Benitez was sacked from his dream job less than two months later.