Arsenal make the long trip to Belarus today to take on Bate Borisov in today’s Europa League group match.
The Gunners come into the game with impressive form, but having left a large number of first-team stars in England, they may struggle tonight.
Arsene Wenger is believed to have opted to leave behind as many as nine regular starters, while others are also ruled out through injury.
Alex Iwobi, Danny Welbeck, Calum Chambers, Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin are all sidelined, while Hector Bellerin, Nacho Monreal, Laurent Koscielny, Sead Kolasinac, Granit Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Alexandre Lacazette are all said to have been left in England.
We appear to be prioritising our Premier League fixtures over the away matches in the Europa, and while winning all our home matches should put us comfortably through to the next stage, our fringe players will not be going out tonight without the intention of three points.
Predicted XI:
Ospina
Holding Mertesacker Mustafi
Debuchy Elneny Wilshere Maitland-Niles
Walcott Nelson
Giroud
The match-up will kick off at 6PM GMT, and this side should have more than enough ability and experience to come away from Belarus with all three points.
Jack Wilshere will most likely be happy to come out of the match unscathed, but beyond that he should be looking to use this match as a platform to build his season around.
Nelson will hopefully get his chance to impress in his more natural attacking position also, which he will hopefully relish, and I hope the powerful atmosphere in Borisov doesn’t overcome the youngster.
I’m going with a hard-fought 2-1 win, with Walcott adding to his goal from the League Cup.
Does this line-up have enough guile to come away from Belarus with the win? Would Wenger be happy with a draw? Can we afford to take such liberties at this early stage of the group phase?
Pat J