Arsenal can bank an additional £12million by beating Girona tonight in the Champions League.

The Gunners are currently sat third in the League Phase standings and are all but guaranteed a spot in the top eight, which would secure them a place in the knockout stage and avoid next month’s play-off round.

Opta have the odds of Arsenal missing out on the top eight as 0.1 per cent as a series of results - and a huge swing in goal difference - would need to go against them.

Mikel Arteta, however, has stressed his desire to beat Girona and the finances behind a victory make that easy to understand.

Clubs competing in the Champions League receive a £1.8m bonus for every win they achieve in the league phase.

Each position in the table is also worth £230,000, with Arsenal set to bank £7.8m if they hold onto third spot.

If Arteta’s side lost, though, and went through to the last 16 in eighth place, that prize money would fall by £1.1m to £6.7m.

A win against Girona is essentially worth an additional £2.9m for the Gunners, while it would also rubber stamp them reaching the last-16 stage and securing at least a further £9.3m in prize money.

Clubs who make it to the last 16 are guaranteed £9.3m in prize money, which is a huge increase from the £840,000 sides knocked out in the play-off round will receive.

“We’re here to win the game,” said Arteta. “In order to do that we’re going to have to be better than them. They’re a really good side, if you look at the games they’ve played in the Champions League against top opposition, they’ve made life very difficult for them.

“Tomorrow it will be a very strong team in order to achieve what we want to do because mathematically the qualifying at the moment is uncertain.”