Mikel Arteta will be keen to kickstart Arsenal's Europa League campaign with a win against Zurich, but the Gunners will be as eager to defend their position at the top of the Premier League table.
Manchester United drew the curtains on the north Londoners' unbeaten start to the campaign with a fatal 3-1 win, thanks to goals from Antony and Marcus Rashford. Arsenal are currently one point clear of Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur as Edu finally begins to reap the benefits of heavy spending.
Over the last two summer transfer windows, Arteta has welcomed 12 new faces to London Colney, spending in the region of £270million. The initial batch of senior signings included Martin Odegaard, Ben White, Aaron Ramsdale, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Nuno Tavares and Aaron Trusty.
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The second round of transfers, which cost just as much, included Gabriel Jesus, Fabio Vieira, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Matt Turner and Marquinhos. All but Trusty, who returned to his former club on loan, have joined Arteta's first-team squad, gifting the Spaniard the chance to heavily rotate when needs be.
Arsenal's clash against Zurich emerges as the perfect opportunity. So, football.london have looked at how the Gunners boss can rest eight players from the side that lost at Old Trafford, and remain competitive while also teeing himself up nicely for the bout with Everton on Sunday afternoon.
We have predicted that only Ben White, Sambi Lokonga and Gabriel Martinelli will start from the Arsenal side that lost to United, with the young defender finally granted the chance to impress at centre-back after operating out of position at right-back so far this season.
Mohamed Elneny is still out injured, so it would be in Arteta's best interest to start the Belgian in the number six role so that Granit Xhaka can remain fresh for Sunday. Fabio Vieira featured off the bench against United, so easing the midfielder into the side now would be ideal.
Matt Smith is also down to partner the Portuguese star. The Europa League could be the competition that ignites the Hale End graduate's Arsenal career - just as it did with Bukayo Saka.
A start for Eddie Nketiah goes without saying. The talking point of the clash could be whether Marquinhos is handed a highly-anticipated start.
However, while the Gunners may be treated to such a strong squad for the moment, an injury or two could prove fatal when star players begin to need rest amid a congested fixture list.
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