Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Football London
Football London
Sport
Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

Tomiyasu recall, Saka rested, Nketiah reward and new formation - Arsenal changes vs Aston Villa

Alterations to the Arsenal starting line-up and matchday squads are inevitable as Mikel Arteta's side will be in action six times across all competitions over the next three weeks.

After free midweeks to start the new Premier League season, that is all about to change for the Gunners boss starting with Wednesday's home game against Aston Villa where the Spaniard will be hopeful of welcoming back Oleksandr Zinchenko and Thomas Partey.

The pair had started for Arsenal against Crystal Palace, Leicester City and Bournemouth, but their ever-present record is now over after failing to make the matchday squad for the win over Fulham due to picking up knocks in training on Friday and are being assessed ahead of Villa's visit to the Emirates Stadium.

READ MORE: Why Martin Odegaard shouted at Kieran Tierney as Mikel Arteta hails Arsenal's maturity

Those absences allowed Kieran Tierney and Mohamed Elneny to make their first starts of the season, whilst summer signing Marquinhos was named in a senior matchday squad for the first time since arriving from Sao Paulo as he was amongst a substitutes bench that included Cedric Soares.

So having been forced into making his first line-up changes of the campaign against Fulham and with a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on the horizon, it wouldn't be much of a surprise if Arteta decided to freshen things up once again for the visit of Aston Villa.

As a result, football.london takes a look at the changes Arteta could make to either his starting XI or 20-man matchday squad as Arsenal face Villa on Wednesday night.

Zinchenko and Partey return

Perhaps, it goes without saying that if Zinchenko and Partey are passed fit they will return to the matchday squad at the very least. Whether they would both be handed immediate recalls to the starting line-up remains to be seen as the Gunners manager may have one eye on Sunday's game.

In this scenario, Cedric and Marquinhos could be the ones to make way from the 20-man matchday squad assuming there are no fresh injury concerns in training before Wednesday night's game under the lights in North London.

Tomiyasu recall

Since Arsenal's 2-0 defeat against Newcastle United in the middle of May, Takehiro Tomiyasu's fitness has been managed very carefully. After missing the opening day win over Crystal Palace, he has made an appearance off the bench in every game since and it must not be too long before he's in from the start.

This could very well be the case against Villa as he could replace Ben White at right-back which means if Tierney is selected on the opposite flank then the Gunners' go-to full-back pairing from last season will be reunited from the start for the first time since January.

Saka rest

Despite producing arguably his best performance of the season against Fulham, much has been made about the number of games Bukayo Saka has played over the past 18 months and it has started to take its toll on the 20-year-old with fatigue potentially becoming a problem if action isn't taken quickly.

Luckily for Arteta he has a number of options at his disposal should he opt to take Saka out of the firing line against Aston Villa with Emile Smith Rowe pushing for a start - which means Gabriel Martinelli could switch over to the right-hand side - along with Marquinhos and Fabio Vieira.

Nketiah reward

Without getting on the scoresheet against Fulham - although perhaps he should have - Eddie Nketiah helped changed the game at the weekend and the reward for such a positive impact would be a return to the starting line-up having lost that role to Gabriel Jesus so far this season.

However, as the Brazilian is one of the first names on the teamsheet at the moment, Nketiah's potential inclusion may have to coincide with a role change for either striker playing out wide or a formation switch to 3-5-2 which did work when the Gunners' no.14 was introduced to proceedings on Saturday evening.

READ NEXT:

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.