Arsenal’s first leg Europa League quarter-final against Napoli is almost upon us so it’s time to try and work out who will start the game at Ashburton Grove on Thursday night.

Defence

In goal, Petr Cech should come into the starting lineup even though an argument could (and perhaps should) be made for playing your best goalkeeper at this stage of any competition. That isn’t Cech who is second in errors leading to goals, only behind the calamity that is Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris.

In front of him we’re likely to line-up with a back three once again, no doubt changing to a back four when things go tits up.

Laurent Koscielny still looks like his foot is causing him some bother so we’ll see Shkodran Mustafi continue to pretend to be a top-level footballer alongside Sokratis who will now miss the next two domestic fixtures through suspension.

If we go with a back three, that means we will also see Nacho Monreal take the other centreback slot.

Midfield

Lucas Torreira should come back into the side, well rested after his three-game domestic suspension and travels to Italy. Alongside him, Aaron Ramsey should get the nod even though he wasn’t quite fit enough to start against Everton on Sunday after picking up a problem on international duty.

Granit Xhaka is still struggling to get back to fitness after his own international break problem so we won’t see him even though he’s returned to training on his own. Ainsley Maitland-Niles should continue in the side. Sead Kolasinac should be on the other side, if for no other reason than we don’t really have another option.

Attack

Up top, it’s really anyone’s guess who Unai Emery goes with.

Alexandre Lacazette will start as he is clearly the Spaniard’s first choice but what of the others?

Mesut Ozil should get the nod again despite his poor showing at the weekend that ended with him hurling his coat at Marco Silva (perhaps he thought the Everton boss was cold and was merely trying to assist him).

I have a feeling Emery will opt for Alex Iwobi over Henrikh Mkhitaryan but that is based on nothing more than my gut.