Arsenal begin their Europa League campaign with the visit of FC Koln to the Emirates Stadium on Thursday evening.

The Gunners finished fifth in the Premier League last season, meaning they missed out on the Champions League, but manager Arsene Wenger has said Arsenal will be taking the competition seriously.

Team News

Arsenal will definitely be without the injured Santi Cazorla (plantaris) Calum Chambers (groin) and Francis Coquelin (hamstring) for their midweek encounter, while Petr Cech, Laurent Koscielny, Danny Welbeck, Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka were all rested and are likely to miss out.

Laurent Koscielny is suspended from another competition, having picked up a red card against Bayern Munich in the Champions League last season.

But the big news is that Jack Wilshere will be returning on Thursday night, as will Alexis Sanchez. Both may start, but that remains to be seen.

Opposition

As for the visitors, FC Koln come into Thursday’s trip to the Emirates Stadium off the back of poor form, having lost three of their last five games in all competitions, conceding nine goals for their troubles.

Koln are currently 18th in the German Bundesliga table without a point to their name after three games. Arsenal will fancy their chances.

How to watch

The match kicks off at 8:05pm on Thursday 14 September.

The match is live on BT Sport 2 and in 4K UHD from 8pm and is also available to live stream on the BT Sport app and on BTSport.com.

Alternatively, if you’re not in the UK, you can find out where you can watch it from LiveOnSat.com.