Arsenal's busy schedule throughout October continues on Thursday evening when they visit PSV Eindhoven in their penultimate Europa League group game. The Gunners defeated Ruud van Nistelrooy's side last week 1-0 courtesy of Granit Xhaka's late strike at the Emirates Stadium.
Mikel Arteta's side secured their spot in the knockout stages of the competition with victory last week and will be confirmed as group winners should they avoid defeat in Eindhoven. Arsenal have won all four of their games so far, scoring seven and conceding only one.
PSV come into the fixture in their worst run of the season after suffering back-to-back defeats to the Gunners and FC Groningen. However, the Dutch giants are on red-hot form this season with eight wins of their 11 Eredivisie games.
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With qualification already boxed off, Arteta is likely to rest a number of regulars in his starting line-up with Sunday's Premier League game against Nottingham Forest in the back of his mind. The Gunners will be looking to return to winning ways after last weekend's 1-1 draw with Southampton seeing their lead at the top cut to only two points.
After minor scares in the previous two games, Bukayo Saka and Granit Xhaka are two players who could be left out on Thursday. Saka took a knock in the reverse fixture last week but was involved against Southampton while Xhaka was floored holding his shoulder.
Arsenal still remain without Oleksandr Zinchenko, Emile Smith Rowe and Mohamed Elneny, meaning the likes of Reiss Nelson, Kieran Tierney and Albert Sambi Lokonga will be hoping to be handed some minutes.
It's unlikely that Arteta will drift away from the 4-2-3-1 implemented throughout the season, meaning any chances are likely to be like-for-like. football.london takes a look at two different ways the Gunners could line-up.
Stick with his Europa League guns
Throughout their Europa League group campaign, Arsenal have used Lokonga, Eddie Nketiah and Fabio Vieira to give them opportunities to shine. With minutes hard to come by in the Premier League, the trio have impressed in Europe and have earned Arteta's trust.
The changes are often simple ones in the Gunners' system with Vieira replacing Martin Odegaard, Nketiah replacing Gabriel Jesus and Lokonga replacing Thomas Partey. With not much riding on the game, Arteta will be tempted to replicate his Europa League rotations.
Possible line-up: Turner; Tomiyasu, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney; Lokonga, Xhaka; Saka, Vieira, Nelson; Nketiah
Rest key players
As previously mentioned, the fitness of key players will be a key priority with the final three league games of the season ahead of the World Cup coming up. Xhaka and Saka have hardly had a rest this season after becoming undroppable with their form, but something has to give.
It may weaken the Gunners on paper, but the beauty of squad depth provides Arteta the opportunity to assess some fringe players.
Possible line-up: Turner; Tomiyasu, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney; Lokonga, Partey; Nelson, Vieira, Martinelli; Nketiah.
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