Gabriel Jesus starts tonight in Arsenal’s Europa League clash with Sporting.
The striker is back in the Gunners’ line-up for the first time since the World Cup for the second leg of their last-16 tie at Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal are without Eddie Nketiah, who has been out since the start of this month with an ankle injury and he has not recovered yet.
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“He’s getting better,” said Mikel Arteta “He’s still in the boot. He’s still a few weeks away and we need to be patient. It was a nasty injury and he has a big challenge ahead of him. Thank God it could have been worse. So he’s not in a bad place.”
Arsenal drew the first leg in Lisbon 2-2 last week and Arteta has named a relatively strong team to book a spot in the quarter-finals, though Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard drop out.
Aaron Ramsdale starts in goal, with Matt Turner not given his usual cup start, while Oleksandr Zinchenko continues at left-back over Kieran Tierney.
Jorginho replaces Thomas Partey at the base of midfield and Fabio Vieira starts after performing well recently. In attack, Reiss Nelson starts along with Gabriel Martinelli and Jesus.
Arsenal XI: Ramsdale; Tomiyasu, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Vieira, Jorginho, Xhaka; Nelson, Jesus, Martinelli
Thursday 8.00pm GMT, BT Sport
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Referee: Antonio Mateu Lahoz
