Arsenal face a tough challenge in the Europa League this week as they host Benfica at the Emirates.
The Gunners held the Portuguese outfit to a 1-1 draw in the first-leg, so they will need to get something here in order to advance to the next round.
The Europa League is the Gunners’ last chance to pick up some silverware this season after their elimination from the FA Cup and the League Cup, so they will be keen to go through here.
Benfica are no pushovers though, so Mikel Arteta will need to get his team selection spot on if he is to mastermind a victory here.
With that in mind, we’ve had a go at predicting Arsenal’s starting XI for this one.
We think that Mikel Arteta will make four changes for this game while retaining a strong XI.
As ever, there will be the temptation to rotate the side in the Europa League to retain players’ fitness in the Premier League, so we think there will be some chopping and changing here.
The back four is where there are the biggest changes with Gabriel Magalhaes and David Luiz coming in for Rob Holding and Pablo Mari, while Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney retain their spots at full-back.
Dani Ceballos comes in for Mohamed Elneny in the middle of the park as we don’t think Arteta will risk Thomas Partey from the start as questions remain over his fitness levels.
Martin Odegaard starts, while Nicolas Pepe drops out for Alexandre Lacazette as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang moves to the left wing.
Bukayo Saka will once again be one to watch as we predict him to start on the wing against Benfica.
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