Arsenal Predicted Lineup vs. Slavia Prague: Arteta Relishes Huge Injury Boost

If Arsenal’s roster wasn’t deep enough already, William Saliba has now emerged as another option at Mikel Arteta’s disposal.

After sitting out the entire season to nurse a back injury which had already derailed his run-in last term, the defensive pillar made his return to first-team training ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Slavia Prague.

Arteta has always stressed a sense of caution when tentatively discussing Saliba’s eventual return and it would represent an almighty surprise—if not a negligence of pastoral care—to give him any excessive minutes in the coming weeks. However, there will come a time when Arsenal’s manager has a difficult choice to make between Saliba and star summer signing Ezri Konsa.

For this European tie against a side which has already lost to Azerbaijan’s Sabah FK this season, Arteta may very well overlook Saliba and Konsa.

Arsenal Predicted Lineup vs. Slavia Prague

GK: David Raya—One can only image what Raya went as for Halloween. After three months out with a knee injury during his first Premier League season with Brentford, the Spaniard celebrated his return to fitness by arriving at the club’s training ground in an inflatable dinosaur costume.

RB: Ben White—“I want to win everything that I do,” White once revealed. “My missus and I play a lot of games at home and I won’t be letting her win.” Arteta will hope that he takes that attitude onto the pitch.

CB: Cristhian Mosquera—“That’s something that people ask a lot: ‘Don’t you get nervous in front of so many people?’ I always say no,” Mosquera explained. There will be less than 20,000 at the Fortuna Arena on Wednesday.

CB: Gabriel—The Brazilian has failed to appear in just one fixture all season. Arsenal lost that one to a team in England’s fourth tier.

LB: Piero Hincapié—If the Ecuador international can pry himself away from Claude for long enough, he could be in line for a rare start.

CM: Myles Lewis-Skelly—“I pride myself on having mental strength,” Arsenal’s prodigious academy graduate said. He can certainly be proud of the way he’s worked his way back into Mikel Arteta’s plans.

Pick Your Arsenal XI!

CM: Declan Rice—Arguably the standout midfielder in the Premier League is almost too important to drop, even in this fixture.

RW: Noni Madueke—While Max Dowman remains on the naughty step and Bukayo Saka is out injured, Arteta doesn’t have many other options.

AM: Mikel Merino—When Merino was 20 and playing for Borussia Dortmund, there was an attack on the team bus heading to a Champions League match. Three homemade pipe bombs exploded and the shrapnel from one lodged into the headrest of the seat Merino always sat in. However, on this particular occasion, he had chosen to sit at the front of the bus where the seats reclined because his legs were a little tight. “I think I have an angel on my shoulder. I’m actually fortunate to be alive at all.”

LW: Eberechi Eze—Arsenal’s European specialist is averaging a goal every 115 minutes in the Champions League this season yet he only has one in 13 Premier League outings this campaign.

ST: Viktor Gyökeres—Ruben Amorim joked that his former Sporting CP striker got his physique “from God.” Gyökeres laughed in reply: “If my mom and dad are gods then ...”

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