Arsenal have another Europa League group game ahead of them tonight as Norwegian club Bodo/Glimt travel to the Emirates Stadium to take on Mikel Arteta’s side.
After keeping their place at the top of the Premier League by beating Tottenham Hotspur last weekend, the Gunners will be looking to pick up another victory this time around on the European stage.
In terms of what Arteta’s starting XI could look like for tonight’s showdown, here’s how we feel the Spaniard could line his team up, with some notable changes being made from the game against Spurs.
In goal, we predict that Matt Turner will start ahead of Aaron Ramsdale, as he did against Zurich in Arsenal’s last Europa League outing four weeks ago.
Moving onto the back four, we think that Arteta will keep Gabriel Magalhaes and Ben White in the team for the two centre-back positions. In the two full-back roles, it would be understandable to see the Gunners boss give rests to Oleksandr Zinchenko and William Saliba, bringing in Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu in their stead.
In midfield, we can see Granit Xhaka keeping his place in the team but Thomas Partey might also be given a rest, allowing Albert Sambi Lokonga to come in.
Ahead of those two, we feel that Arteta will give Fabio Vieira another chance to show what he’s capable of doing after he played for most of the match against Zurich, with Martin Odegaard duly dropping out.
In the two wide positions, Arteta may have one eye on the weekend’s big Premier League clash against Liverpool, therefore giving Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka a rest tonight so that they’re ready to take on Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Therefore, after scoring and providing an assist against Zurich, this could be another chance for Marquinhos to impress. It would also allow Reiss Nelson, who has been praised by Steve McManaman for his “beautiful” attacking play in the past, to come in for his first appearance of the season after recovering from a thigh injury.
Finally, also with one eye on the weekend, this could be an opportunity for Eddie Nketiah to do a job for the team ahead of Gabriel Jesus, as the Englishman has yet to start a league game for the club this season.
All told, we’re predicting eight changes from the starting line-up from the north London derby triumph as Arteta shuffles the pack.
