Arsenal will begin their quest to win the Europa League with a trip to Austria where they will face SK Rapid Wien. Now that we know the team news, how will they be lining up in this one? The Gunners had a tough game over the weekend at Manchester City and despite their best efforts, still ended up losing 1-0.
There were a lot of positives to take from that game and they will want to carry the elements of positivity into the Europa League clash on Thursday at Rapid Wien.
We are likely to see Mikel Arteta go with a 3-4-3 as has been the norm for most of the season. In goal, it could be a debut for Alex Runarsson, giving Bernd Leno some much needed rest.
The three centre backs will likely be William Saliba, David Luiz and Gabriel. An injury to Rob Holding will give Saliba a much deserved starting spot.
For the wingbacks, there will be some changes from the weekend. Cedric Soares and Sead Kolasinac will come in and replace Hector Bellerin and Bukayo Saka. A lot of the team’s attacks will come from the wings so these two will have to be willing to get up and down the pitch.
In midfield, we will see further changes being made with deadline day arrival Thomas Partey likely being given a start. The Ghanaian will be partnered with Mohamed Elneny giving Dani Ceballos and Granit Xhaka a rest. These two have been Arteta’s preferred starting duo but will be given some time-off ahead of Sunday’s Premier League game.
And for the front three, we can expect to see plenty of changes compared to the team that took on City. Nicolas Pepe, Willian and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will all be making way. They will be replaced by Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock.
The latter has started a few games on the wing with the Carabao Cup match against Leicester being a notable example. Arsenal will have enough firepower on the bench to get a result should the starting combination not work out.
Arsenal Predicted Starting XI Against SK Rapid Wien (3-4-3):
Alex Runarsson, William Saliba, David Luiz, Gabriel, Cedric Soares, Thomas Partey, Mohamed Elneny, Sead Kolasinac, Joe Willock, Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson