Mikel Arteta will have the luxury of naming a larger matchday squad as Arsenal return to Europa League action tonight (Thursday) against FK Bodo/Glimt.
The Gunners manager has been operating with a slightly smaller squad since the beginning of September as both Hector Bellerin and Ainsley Maitland-Niles departed on transfer deadline day, whilst the likes of Nicolas Pepe, Lucas Torreira and Bernd Leno all left during the final month of the window.
As a result, with the club's official website stating that Arsenal have 24 senior players listed, it means that if everyone is available for selection, Arteta will always have to make a decision on which four first-team stars to leave out of his 20-man matchday squad for a Premier League fixture.
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In recent weeks, the Spaniard's decisions have been a lot easier to make with Mohamed Elneny, Emile Smith Rowe, Cedric Soares, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Thomas Partey, Martin Odegaard and Reiss Nelson all injured at one point or another which has allowed for several youngsters to earn a call-up.
But the rules are different for the Europa League as clubs are permitted to name a 23-man matchday squad which means 12 substitutes. Arteta took advantage of this on matchday one against FC Zurich as Karl Hein, Amario Cozier-Duberry, Matt Smith and Catalin Cirjan were on the bench in Switzerland.
Of the quartet, it's likely that Hein will keep his place in the squad against Bodo/Glimt with teams allowed to name two substitute goalkeepers but it remains to be seen what the situation is for the rest considering Nelson, Partey and Cedric are all in contention to return to the squad having missed out last month.
With that said, whilst there were no fresh injury concerns reported by Arteta during his pre-match press conference, football.london understands Zinchenko didn't train with the rest of the squad at London Colney on Wednesday afternoon. Although, it should be noted that his absence was taken as a precautionary measure, rather than any serious injury.
Therefore if the Ukraine international isn't risked - with the Liverpool game on the horizon - then Arteta could only have 21 of his 24-man senior squad fit and available for selection against the Norwegian side as Elneny and Smith Rowe are the two long-term absentees.
So if the plan is to name all the available first-team players in the matchday squad against Bodo/Glimt, it means Hein and Cedric are in line to be the first two additions to the group that was selected for the North London Derby win over Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend.
Should this scenario play out, two more additions will be required if Zinchenko needs to be replaced. Judging by the youth players spotted in training on Wednesday, Zach Awe and Smith are the likely candidates, but Arteta can select from Taylor Foran, Henry Jeffcott, Zane Monlouis, James Lannin-Sweet, Mauro Bandeira, Cirjan, Ben Cottrell, Jack Henry-Francis, Bradley Ibrahim, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, Khayon Edwards, Kido Taylor-Hart, Billy Vigar and Cozier-Duberry as they are all on Arsenal's submitted list, as per UEFA.com.
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