Xhaka out, Saka rested & Elneny to start? Arsenal team news and predicted XI vs FC Zurich

Things are looking good for Arsenal on the injury front, with both Bukayo Saka and Oleksandr Zinchenko taking a full part in training on Wednesday.

It’s unlikely that either player will start against Zurich, but they could be on the bench.

Mohamed Elneny also comes into contention having been training for the past couple of weeks following his hamstring injury, which has kept him sidelined since August.

Emile Smith Rowe (groin) is still out, as is Matt Turner (groin), with Aaron Ramsdale expected to start once again.

Arsenal will be without Granit Xhaka for the match as the midfielder is suspended having picked up two yellow cards during the previous group-stage games.

Arteta’s team selection is the main point of discussion ahead of the game.

Ideally, the Arsenal boss would like to give all of his star men the night off to give them time to rest ahead of Sunday’s trip to Chelsea.

But with Arsenal still needing to get a result to top the group, he can’t do that.

So the big question is who does he start? Does he risk Bukayo Saka? Does he go with Gabriel Jesus again? Those are all questions that fans are asking ahead of Thursday night’s kick-off.

When asked whether he would rest his star names on Thursday night with Sunday’s trip to Chelsea in mind, the Arsenal boss said: “I don’t approach games thinking that after half an hour or 45 minutes we will get the result that we want.

“I will have a really competitive team out there. 

“We missed the chance in Holland last week and Thursday is the last opportunity to achieve our goal [of topping the group].”

Eddie Nketiah: After a strong start to the Europa League campaign, the Arsenal striker has failed to score in his last three European games.

He will be desperate to end that run against FC Zurich, who he did find the net against when the sides met earlier in the season.

Nketiah knows he needs to take full advantage of the opportunities he gets in the Europa League and so will be out to make an impression at the Emirates.

Arsenal should create plenty of chances against the group’s bottom-placed group, so Nketiah will need to take them.

(4-3-3): Ramsdale, Cedric, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Elneny, Sambi, Vieira, Nelson, Nketiah, Martinelli