The Evening standard expects Gabriel to start for Arsenal handing Lincoln City a massive boost ahead of their FA Cup trip to the Emirates.

The paper also expects Kieran Gibbs to replace Nacho Monreal (no surprise) and Lucas Perez to get a rare start (again, no surprise).

Gabriel seemed to have fallen out of favour when Arsene Wenger opted to turn to Granit Xhaka at centreback after Laurent Koscielny was sent off mid-week. This is no surprise. The Brazilian looks to have regressed this season and has struggled more often than not.

The Standard report that Mertesacker was hopeful of being involved but is not quite ready after the knee injury that destroyed his first season as club captain.

Meanwhile, Alex Iwobi returned to training on Friday after a bout of illness while Mesut Ozil was also involved, looking all smiley. They are both still doubts ahead of the game, as is Danny Welbeck who is also ill.

Jeff Reine-Adelaide will be involved with the squad, although it’s not clear if that will be in a starting role. Ainsley Maitland-Niles was also in first-team training and will be involved on Saturday in some capacity.