Riccardo Calafiori is not in the Arsenal squad to face Bayer Leverkusen tonight, but Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice are both involved along with William Saliba and David Raya.
The Gunners are back in the UK for the final two weeks of pre-season, after fixtures against Bournemouth, Manchester United and Liverpool in the USA.
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Calafiori was available to face Liverpool but Mikel Arteta opted against throwing the Italian into action immediately. The defender has since had another week of training with his new team-mates, but is not yet ready to feature.
Jurrien Timber was not involved against Liverpool either, with the Gunners carefully managing his workload after last season’s injury problems. He is also absent tonight along with Calafiori.
Saka, Rice, Saliba, Aaron Ramsdale and Raya have all now returned to training, having missed the US tour after being given time off following their involvement in the latter stages at Euro 2024.
Raya and Saliba come straight into start, with Saka, Rice and Ramsdale all on the bench.
Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus both looked sharp in the US, though the former is only on the bench this evening as the latter leads the attack.
Arsenal XI: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Odegaard, Jorginho, Havertz, Vieira, Jesus, Trossard
Subs: Ramsdale, Setford, Heaven, Lewis-Skelly, Nichols, Partey, Rice, Nelson, Nwaneri, Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah
Time and date: 6pm BST on Wednesday August 7, 2024
Venue: Emirates Stadium
TV channel: Arsenal TV
