Arsenal welcome Rennes to the Emirates for the second leg of the Europa League Round of 16 this Thursday.
The Gunners lost the first match 3-1 as they played most of the game with 10 men. But now that they are back on their home turf, the London club is expected to move through to the next round with considerable ease.
Unai Emery has very little injury casualties but the Spanish boss is expected to make a few changes to his first XI.
Arsenal news vs Rennes:
Sokratis is suspended for this game after picking up a red card in the first leg which means that Shkodran Mustafi will come back into the side after having started the Man United game on the bench.
Emery will have his usual three-man defensive line where Mustafi will be partnered by Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal.
Lucas Torreira is currently serving a domestic ban which means the summer signing will surely be named in the starting XI on Thursday alongside Granit Xhaka.
Sead Kolasinac and Maitland-Niles will play as wing-backs.
Alex Iwobi came on as a substitute for the Man United game but he is expected to start in an advances position alongside Aaron Ramsey.
Alexandre Lacazette like Sokratis is also suspended for this game which makes Aubameyang a guaranteed starter.
This means that after starting two games in a row Mesut Ozil will once again be pushed to the bench.
Arsenal news: Gunners’ predicted XI
First XI: Petr Cech, Nacho Monreal, Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi, Kolasinac, Maitland-Niles, Torreira, Granit Xhaka, Iwobi, Aaron Ramsey, Aubameyang.
Read: Unai Emery reveals what exactly went wrong against Rennes and how they need to fix it.
Read: Is ‘this’ why Unai Emery is refusing to select Mesut Ozil for the first XI this season?
