Slav refuses to back down!

Slaven Bilic finds himself under pressure to get a big result at Arsenal given the events in in Romania last night.

But the Irons boss refused to back off from his decision to play a “shadow” team against FC Astra and said: “We would want a result (against Arsenal) anyway.

“When the Premier League starts, we have a game and of course we are looking to get a positive result.

“Do I need to justify the result here? I told you it was my decision. I have spoken with the people from the club about the Europa League and about next season, which is a huge one.

“I made this decision, not only for this game but for the game in Malta (in the second qualifying round against Birkirkara). “I wanted to go through. I believed that we could go through with this team.

“I’m very proud of the effort they put in and disappointed with the result.Of course we are out sooner than we wanted to be, sooner than we expected to be.

“But the beginning of the Premier League will show us if we got the right balance (with the team) and see if we can cope with it – I think we are ready.”