Arsenal were stunned by Bournemouth in the Premier League as they lost 2-0 on Saturday evening. However, their focus must quickly shift to European action, where their unbeaten record will be tested on home turf against Shakhtar Donestk on Tuesday, 22nd October.
Mikel Arteta’s men are going to play at the Emirates Stadium for a second successive match in the Champions League and will look to replicate their display from last time out when they put in arguably their best performance of the season to defeat Paris Saint-Germain 2-0.
Here is a look at their predicted line-up against Shakhtar.
Goalkeeper – David Raya will remain in goal against Shakhtar Donetsk. The Spaniard has yet to be breached in the competition having kept two clean sheets in as many matches, against Atalanta and PSG.
Defenders – Gabriel Magalhaes will feature in the heart of Arsenal’s backline alongside William Saliba. The Frenchman will be suspended against Liverpool at the weekend so there is no chance Arteta will opt to rest him in Europe.
Jurrien Timber remains sidelined after his injury against PSG some weeks back and there is no hint that he will return for the Shakhtar match, so Ben White will play as the right back with Riccardo Calafiori starting on the left of Arsenal’s defence.
Saka and Jesus likely to start
Midfielders – Declan Rice and Mikel Merino could form a double pivot with Thomas Partey dropping out to the bench. Kai Havertz might slot in as the number 10 with Martin Odegaard still out and will look to continue his impressive scoring run at the Emirates on Tuesday.
With Arsenal aiming to avoid successive defeats in a matter of days, Bukayo Saka return versus Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League after missing the defeat against Bournemouth. The Englishman’s injury is not severe by any means and he should be fit to start on the right wing for at least some part of the game against the Ukrainian outfit.
Meanwhile, Leandro Trossard is likely to play on the left wing ahead of Gabriel Martinelli – who returned from international duty with a knock and was only a substitute at the weekend.
Forward – Gabriel Jesus came off the bench against Bournemouth but he could be entrusted to lead the line on Tuesday right from the word go.
This is how Arsenal may look on paper:
