Arsenal will take on Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League tonight. The Gunners will hope to get back to winning ways after a shock defeat against Bournemouth in the Premier League. Arsenal are expected to be without Bukayo Saka who wasn’t seen on the training pitch. He also missed the game at the Vitality Stadium which they lost 2-0. Will Arsenal get back on track or will the season start to go downhill from here on?
Arsenal have been good this season. They will hope to win at least one trophy between the Premier League and the Champions League. A win against the Ukrainian side will help players find confidence. Their last game in the competition was against Paris Saint Germain, arguably their best performance of the season. This time they will host Shakhtar Donetsk and hope for a similar result. The unavailability of key players like Bukayo Saka, Jurien Timber, and long-time absentee Martin Odegaard will play an important role in Mikel Arteta’s team selection. Could this be the moment for Ethan Nwaneri?
Let’s talk about how injury will affect the team selection and How the Gunners could lineup against Shakhtar Donetsk at The Emirates Stadium.
Injuries at Arsenal
Arsenal have had many injury issues to begin the season. Almost every player has missed some time due to injury. To start the season, it was summer signing Riccardo Calafiori, and then another new signing Mikel Merino joined the list. During the international break before this one, it was Martin Odegaard who got hurt and Bukayo Saka got hurt during this international break. Not to mention the issues that Kai Havertz, Ben White, and Oleksandr Zinchenko had before the break. A few of them have returned but Takehiro Tomiyasu, Kieran Tierney, and Martin Odegaard are out. With doubts about the availability of Jurien Timber and Bukayo Saka, after they did not train on Monday.
These injuries mean that Mikel Arteta will have to play without his two best players. They were able to get results in the absence of Odegaard but doing it without Saka also is difficult. They lost the game to Bournemouth without him. The biggest reason behind the loss was Saliba’s red card but not scoring a single goal against Bournemouth in ninety minutes of football shows how important Saka is to the team.
The players looked rusty during the game against Bournemouth, they will need to be ready against Shakhtar. The UCL is a tournament that has shocked many teams.
Predicted Lineup
Arteta is a complex man. He can try several combinations in the midfield and attack. But, with Jurien Timber not training with the squad on Monday, I would say that the starting defenders are set. Ben White and Riccardo Calafiori will start on the Right and Left back positions respectively. Gabriel and William Saliba, who form one of the best center-back partnerships in the UCL will join them. Jacub Kiwior will be a useful substitute because Oleksandr Zinchenko hasn’t played recently. The defense is as good as any team in Europe, and it will be difficult to score against them at the Emirates.
The midfield and attack are tricky to predict. Declan Rice should be the first name on the team sheet. He is one of the few key players who are fit. In the other two positions, it will be interesting to see who Arteta starts. The trio of Merino, Partey, and Rice did not look great in the last game. This could lead to Jorginho starting with Partey and Rice, but I believe that Nwaneri should start.
It could be Raheem Sterling with Leandro Trossard and Kai Havertz in the front three. Havertz and Trossard can also play in the midfield, and it could be that both of them start with Gabriel Martinelli on the wing and one of them in the midfield. Arsenal have a squad good enough to beat Shakhtar Donetsk at home. The Gunners will look to gain some confidence before facing Liverpool.
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