Arsenal kick off their UEFA Europa League campaign tonight in Germany.
The full match squad is as follows:
Starting XI – Martinez, Chambers, Mustafi, David Luiz, Kolasinac, Torreira, Xhaka, Willock, Smith Rowe, Saka, Aubameyang.
Substitutes – Leno, Ceballos, Maitland-Niles, Pepe, Nelson, Guendouzi, Martinelli.
The match is a massive opportunity for the Gunners to end their poor run of form in recent weeks.
Emery’s team haven’t won a match since an August match at home to Burnley. Since then they’ve lost to Liverpool, also drawing against Tottenham Hotspur and Watford.
The competition is one that provided Arsenal with some success last season, going on a run that would take them to the final, where they were defeated by London rivals Chelsea.
For Emery it’s about finding a balance between his strongest eleven and preserving energy for Premier League tests on a Sunday.
No surprise then that’s there’s a fair bit of rotation in tonight’s lineup, with stars such as Mesut Ozil and Sokratis Papastathopoulos rested for the fixture.
Emery addressed the omission of Ozil in his pre-match press conference.
As quoted by the BBC, he said: “Really the first match he played on Sunday, he played well and was good physically.
“Now he is ready to help us, not tomorrow but on Sunday – we are going to play another match and tomorrow we are thinking to do some rotation.”
Big names have still been named, with Arsenal well aware that Frankfurt pose a stiff test tonight, having made the semi-finals of the competition last season. Like the Gunners, they were beaten by Chelsea.
Arsenal’s recent history away to German sides also isn’t great, having lost the last four on their travels to the country.
With Alexander Lacazette nursing an injury, the scoring burden will fall on the shoulders of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang primarily, supported by 19-year-old Emile Smith Rowe and 18-year-old Bukayo Saka.
Both players have had limited opportunities in the first-team over the last 12 months so it’s a big night for them.
Elsewhere Lucas Torreira and Calum Chambers both come into the eleven having started on the bench at the weekend.
Seven changes have been made in total from the Watford match.
Can Arsenal get the job done?
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