Arsenal are likely to rotate heavily for their match against BATE Borisov on Thursday, with Southampton to come at the weekend. Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott will start.

The Gunners used almost their entire first-choice team for the last three matches in a row over the course of seven days, so I’d expect most of them to be rested on Thursday evening.

Considering Arsenal have already qualified for the knockout stages in first place in the group, there’s no reason to risk the key Premier League players.

Normally, this would be a chance to give youth players a chance. Reiss Nelson in the front three, Eddie Nketiah up front, Joe Willock in midfield, maybe give Ben Sheaf his first start in defence.

Nketiah
Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah.

However, the problem is that there are so many senior players who want to be playing matches. Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere are fit and ready and will start, as confirmed by Wenger.

Olivier Giroud scored two against Huddersfield last week but still hasn’t started in the league. He’ll be hoping for game time in Europe.

Rob Holding, Calum Chambers, Per Mertesacker and Mathieu Debuchy are four senior centre-backs trying to fill three spots. Mohamed Elneny and Francis Coquelin also haven’t been getting league starts so they may feature.

Wenger has too many players to keep happy, and only Shkodran Musafi is out injured, so there are a lot of experienced fringe players who might get the nod over the youthful options.

Predicted Arsenal XI (3-4-2-1): Ospina; Chambers, Mertesacker, Holding; Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Coquelin, Nelson; Walcott, Wilshere; Giroud.