Arsenal will open their European campaign with a trip to Switzerland to take on FC Zurich today, and have some fitness worries to deal with.
Emile Smith Rowe is absent as he struggles to recover from his injury woes, with manager Mikel Arteta confirming that he has stayed in London. Cedric Soares and Thomas Partey were also reported by Dan George to have been absent from training in the final training session ahead of our trip yesterday.
Despite losing to Manchester United at the weekend, the feeling in and around the squad will be positive, having outplayed our rivals for much of the 90 minutes, and knowing they had a 100% winning record prior to that outing. They will be expected to continue their form tonight despite the probability of some rotation to our starting line-up.
Predicted Arsenal XI:
Turner
Tomiyasu Saliba Gabriel Tierney
Lokonga Odegaard Xhaka
Vieira Jesus Nketiah
I’m taking some risks with my predicted XI, assuming that both Martinelli and Saka are most in need of rotation over Jesus and Odegaard, who would be the more likely to come out of the side for the prospective incoming duo.
Certain players in this team may well have to prove their fitness is up to playing the full 90, namely Vieira and Tomiyasu who have been overcoming injuries from pre-season, but this team should have more than enough in the locker to beat our Swiss rivals tonight.
I’m predicting a 2-1 win to open our account today, with the expectation that we will be patient in the build-up without the urgency of needing a result, and with changes likely to slow our flow down a little also.
What are your early predictions for today’s matchup?
Patrick
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