Mikel Arteta will continue an Arsenal trend in the Europa League this season when he names his matchday squad for the Group A encounter against FK Bodo/Glimt this evening (Thursday).
Whilst the Gunners manager has opted for the same starting line-up in wins over FC Zurich and the Norwegian side, he's also included a number of the club's most promising youngsters on the substitutes bench, mainly due to injuries to first-team players such as Emile Smith Rowe and Mohamed Elneny.
On matchday one, Amario Cozier-Duberry, Matt Smith and Catalin Cirjan were called up for the trip to Switzerland. The latter pair were unused substitutes as goals from Eddie Nketiah, Rob Holding, and Fabio Vieira helped Arsenal beat Bodo/Glimt 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium last week.
READ MORE: Arsenal line-ups vs FK Bodo/Glimt as Marquinhos starts, Tomiyasu switches roles, no Martinelli
With the north London outfit's injury situation not improving from a week ago - Smith Rowe and Elneny are long-term absentees - coupled with Gabriel Jesus staying home and Oleksandr Zinchenko not being spotted in training on Wednesday, Arteta is looking at a scenario where he will be without four senior players against Bodo/Glimt.
Now, if the Gunners were in Premier League action, this wouldn't be too much of a problem, as Arteta is always permitted to name a 20-man matchday squad. But the rules are different for Europa League fixtures, as a 23-man matchday squad can be named, which means 12 substitutes are allowed.
Furthermore, with teams allowed to name two substitute goalkeepers, Karl Hein can return to the squad after being an unused substitute in the two group games thus far and assuming no fresh injuries are reported, Arteta can select the remaining 19 senior players available for selection.
But with three spots up for grabs, it's almost certain that the Spaniard will call up some academy players to make up the numbers. Judging by Wednesday's training session, it would appear that Khayon Edwards is in line to replace Gabriel Jesus as the backup option for Eddie Nketiah.
Meanwhile, midfield trio Cirjan, Smith and Bradley Ibrahim have a chance of being involved too - the latter for the first time with the senior squad this season - as they were part of the first-team training session alongside the likes of William Saliba, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka at London Colney.
In addition, Arteta can select from Taylor Foran, Henry Jeffcott, Zane Monlouis, James Lannin-Sweet, Mauro Bandeira, Ben Cottrell, Jack Henry-Francis, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji, 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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