Arsenal may have dropped a huge team news hint ahead of their match against FC Zurich on Thursday night in their Europa League group stage opener. The Gunners have travelled to Switzerland to face the division champions, who have since struggled over a summer of change.
Zurich are the lowest coefficient team in the group for Mikel Arteta's side, meaning a victory will be crucial to getting their competition off to the right start. The Spaniard has some huge decisions to make when it comes to the team too, having taken a strong squad with him to the game.
When asked about that decision, he said: "We don’t have that many players available unfortunately because of the injuries we picked in the last few weeks. This is a competition that we want to take very seriously against an opponent that is going to make life difficult for us. We want to start the competition in the right way and maintain our momentum."
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With squad depth and injury concerns high on the agenda for the manager, he may opt to make a few changes to his team. One of those could come in the forward department, where a front four of Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Jesus have been rampant in recent weeks.
Emile Smith Rowe won't be available for the game, but Fabio Vieira and Eddie Nketiah may be looking to stake a claim for a first-team shirt against the Swiss side. While the latter may look like a guaranteed replacement for Jesus in the centre-forward role, a team news hint suggests that may not be the case.
The official Arsenal Twitter account tweeted out a photo of both Nketiah and Jesus in training together, with the caption: "EN14 x GJ9". While there is no guarantee that will be the case, it could suggest that the pair may start together in the forward ranks, something they haven't done so far this season.
It was trialled by Arteta in pre-season, but the form of the front four has kept the fringe players out. The combination could see Jesus move out to the right for Saka, who is the only current right-wing option since the exit of Nicolas Pepe on loan.
The Gunners were unable to add another body in that area, meaning the England international's minutes will have to be managed, especially in competitions such as the Europa League. When asked if he will try not to overexpose the youngster, Arteta said: "We will try. If the squad and performances allow us, we will try to do our best to manage his load and get him on the field in the best possible condition. [We are] understanding that after November, we have something [a winter World Cup] that we have never experienced before."
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