As far as games go, it’s fair to say that Sunday’s match against Burnley is up there.

The set-up

Although Arsene Wenger doesn’t want any fuss, the clubs are planning on giving him a guard of honour and there will be tributes at the end of the game, to be streamed live on Arsenal.com.

The match already has an air of testimonial about it but that ignores the fact that all the footballing business is not quite finished for the season.

A win for Burnley would see them draw level on points with Arsenal, albeit with a significantly worse goal difference.

Given that Arsenal’s final two games of the season are away, dropped points against Sean Dyche’s men could realistically result in Arsenal finishing seventh and their new manager having to start his first season at the club before July is even finished.

So, despite the huge disappointment on Thursday night, the club need to pick themselves up, shake themselves down, and get a result against the Clarets.

So how will they line-up?

Defence

Petr Cech should return to goal, providing his injury has cleared up properly. I’m not going to get into a debate about how he should have started in Madrid. What’s done is done, but he should have.

In front of him we already know there will be no Laurent Koscielny who is facing perhaps the toughest spell of his career.

Most are expecting him to be out for a minimum of six months however it is likely any return could take up to a year, and even then there is no guarantee he won’t struggle. Achilles’ injuries are notoriously tricky to recover from fully.

Hector Bellerin, Nacho Monreal and Shkodran Mustafi should all start despite playing on Thursday. Wenger will want to play his strongest team.

We could also see a return for Kostantinos Mavropanos, but Calum Chambers earned a start with his appearance against Atletico Madrid.

Midfield

Granit Xhaka will start because he always starts, as does Aaron Ramsey when he’s fit.

That leaves just one spot remaining.

Will Wenger hand it, and the captain’s armband, to Jack as one last throw of the dice to get him to commit to a new deal before it expires in the summer? Perhaps.

Many would like to see Ainsley Maitland-Niles start instead. Me included.

On the subject of the Arsenal captaincy, Arsenal had three captains on Thursday night (Kos, Jack, Rambo). I’m all for just giving to Ramsey and letting him keep it.

Forwards

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is available again for Arsenal so should start, however we thought that last week against Manchester United too. Wenger has often protected his new players for big games away from home. This week, however, I expect him to get the nod to lead the line given we are at home.

He will be supported by Mesut Ozil and, most hopefully, Hennrikh Mkhitaryan.

Ozil, as usual, was made the fall guy for Arsenal crashing out of the Europa League.

Absolutely savaged by Martin Keown, who has had a personal vendetta against the German for a long time now, Ozil was actually one of Arsenal’s best performers.

On Thursday night, not only did he create more chances than anyone and play the most attacking-third passes, no player made more tackles nor won the ball back more.

But that does’t fit the narrative, does it?

Final XI

Preferred:

Cech; Monreal, Mavropanos, Chambers, Bellerin; Xhaka, Ainsley Maitland-NIles, Ramsey; Lacazette, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang.

Expected:

Cech; Monreal, Chambers, Mustafi, Bellerin; Xhaka, Wilshere, Ramsey; Lacazette, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang.