MIKEL ARTETA revealed that Arsenal will be without Jurrien Timber and William Saliba through “niggles” for tomorrow night’s dead rubber against Kairat Almaty.
Arsenal host the Kazakhstani minnows at the Emirates Stadium in a game that pits top of the table against bottom of the pile with virtually nothing on the line.
Arteta will be hoping his team can use the fixture to bounce back after their 3-2 defeat to Manchester United on Sunday reopened some old wounds.
The Gunners’ boss warned Kairat have made things “difficult” for the likes of Real Madrid and Inter Milan already, despite the fixture looking like a walkover on paper.
Kairat have nothing else to focus on other than earning what would be a historic result in North London, given they have only been playing European football since October.
For Arsenal, this is their sixth game in the last 20 days – pointing to Arteta needing to rotate his team heavily.
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Arteta has said that both Timber and Saliba will miss the game to recover from issues in time to play against Leeds on Saturday.
He said: “They have some niggles and it is a good opportunity to get them in the best possible condition for the weekend.”
Mikel Merino and Declan Rice are also unavailable for the Gunners through suspension after picking up too many yellow cards.
Kai Havertz was back in training today and is seemingly available for selection, despite not making the bench for Sunday’s defeat to Man Utd.
PREDICTED LINEUP
Arteta is going to have to make plenty of changes, not only due to the new injuries, but also the sheer amount of games his players have played in recent weeks.
Expect Kepa Arrizabalaga to start between the sticks for Arsenal, with a back line that will likely see Myles Lewis-Skelly and Cristhian Mosquera in front of him.
Christian Norgaard seems an obvious choice in the centre of midfield with both Merino and Rice out, while the likes of Ebere Eze and Noni Madueke can expect starts too.
Arteta is a hard man to predict, so guessing which of his three strikers he will start is difficult.
Despite Havertz being back fit again, it seems more likely that Gabriel Jesus or Viktor Gyokeres will lead the line and the German could get some minutes off the bench after playing just 29 minutes since his return from injury.
LINEUP: Kepa, White, Mosquera, Hincapie, Lewis-Skelly, Norgaard, Eze, Odegaard, Madueke, Jesus, Martinelli
SUNSPORT PREDICTS
Despite Arteta likely making wholesale changes to his team, Arsenal will still fancy themselves as strong favourites given their strength in depth.
The Gunners should be comfortable at home against a side that are some way off them in terms of quality.
It’s worth remembering that Kairat lost just 2-1 away at Inter and earned their place in the Champions League thanks to victory over Celtic.
However, it would be a huge shock if Arsenal don’t dominate this game and come away from the league phase with a perfect record of eight wins from eight.
SunSport prediction: Arsenal 4-0 Kairat