Mikel Arteta has many tough decisions to make as Arsenal's 2022/23 season gets underway against Crystal Palace.
Whilst the Spaniard's starting line-up for the Premier League opener at Selhurst Park feels very much set in stone as summer signings Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko have been tipped to make their official debuts, he will have to leave a large number of first-team players at home.
Based on what happened in Arsenal's final pre-match training session at London Colney on Thursday afternoon, Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira are likely to miss out on the 20-man matchday squad Arteta must name an hour before kick-off against Patrick Vieira's side.
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Although going by the club's official website which has 27 other first-team players listed, the pair won't be alone in cheering on their teammates from afar as, in total, Arteta will have to leave as many as nine senior stars at home for the game against Palace in the scenario that no further transfers are completed between now and kick-off.
This task has been made somewhat easier with the Gunners reducing their first-team squad size from 33 to 29 over the past week with Nuno Tavares, Arthur Okonkwo and Folarin Balogun leaving on loan and Bernd Leno sealing a permanent move to London rivals Fulham.
Taking the current transfer speculation into account, it indicates that Lucas Torreira won't be involved as he is reportedly closing in on a move to Turkish outfit Fenerbahce whilst Hector Bellerin and Pablo Mari could also be left out amid continued speculation regarding their futures.
As Arteta likes to name one goalkeeper on the bench, that spot is likely to go to summer signing Matt Turner which means Alex Runarsson misses out - although that wouldn't come as too much of a surprise given the Iceland international didn't feature at all in pre-season and is another that could depart before transfer deadline day.
Should this scenario come to fruition, it would leave the Arsenal manager needing to make a decision on which three remaining senior players to leave out as the likes of Cedric Soares, Rob Holding, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Marquinhos could be at risk of not making the matchday squad against Palace.
Furthermore, the game could come too soon for Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu to be named amongst the substitutes, at the very least, and that is despite taking part in a training session beforehand. Whatever calls Arteta makes are certainly going to be tough ones as he tries to juggle with a large squad.
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