Arsenal attacker Bukayo Saka remains a major doubt for Tuesday’s Champions League league phase contest against Shakhtar Donetsk at the Emirates.
The 23-year-old missed Saturday’s 2-0 Premier League loss at Bournemouth with the hamstring injury he suffered on England duty, and it would make sense for Mikel Arteta to hold him back before Sunday’s crunch clash with Liverpool.
The Spaniard could adopt the same approach with muscular victim Jurrien Timber, but Martin Odegaard (ankle), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran Tierney (hamstring) are guaranteed to miss out.
Even though William Saliba saw red at the weekend, the Frenchman is only set to serve a domestic ban, so he will surely retain his place in the first XI on Tuesday before his enforced rest against Liverpool.
The Frenchman should link arms with Ben White, Gabriel Magalhaes and David Raya at the back once again, but a fit-again Oleksandr Zinchenko may come in for Riccardo Calafiori against his former youth side.
It would not be a complete surprise to see Thomas Partey enjoy a well-earned break either, and his possible demotion could see Declan Rice drop into the number six position as Mikel Merino and Kai Havertz operate either side of him.
Arteta should also give Raheem Sterling another chance to prove himself after he was sacrificed early at the weekend due to Saliba’s red, while Gabriel Jesus scored four UCL goals against Shakhtar while playing for Manchester City and has a case to start up front.
Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard both endured nightmare evenings at the Vitality Stadium – the former missed a golden chance after Trossard’s awful backpass triggered Saliba’s red card-worthy foul – but the Belgian has every right to be hopeful of starting over his wasteful counterpart.
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Havertz, Rice, Merino; Sterling, Jesus, Trossard
