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Wilshere starts with 4 youngsters in 3-4-2-1: My Arsenal XI to face BATE Borisov

By on September 27, 2017

jack wilshere arsenal 2015

Arsenal continue our Europa League campaign when we take on BATE Borisov in Belarus on Thursday evening. Here is the team I’d like to see Arsene Wenger select….

Goalkeeper: Ospina

Ospina will once again be our keeper in the cup competitions so the Colombian international should replace Cech in goal tomorrow night.

Defence: Mustafi, Mertesacker, Holding

Wenger is going to rightly rest his key men with Koscielny certain to get a breather while Monreal should also be protected as he’s becoming an important part of the back three.

Mertesacker is set to come in to the side while Holding should get another chance to impress in Europe. But with Chambers ruled out through injury we need to find another centre-back and Mustafi has travelled to Belarus so he’s likely to start.

Midfield: Willock, Wilshere, Elneny, Maitland-Niles

Wilshere is certain to get another start in midfield and I hope he builds on his excellent display against Doncaster last week. Elneny would be my preferred partner for Jack as Ramsey and Xhaka need to be rested for the Premier League clash with Brighton on Sunday.

Maitland-Niles is expected to get another run-out and while he looked far more comfortable in midfield during the second half against Doncaster, I think he’ll start in the left wing-back role once again.

Bellerin needs to be protected so there is a void to be filled out wide and although he’s primarily a central midfield, Willock could fill-in on the right if needed so I’d give him a chance to impress.

Reiss Nelson Arsenal

Attack: Nelson, Walcott, Giroud

That would allow Nelson to be deployed in a more advanced position where he’s been impressing for the U23’s so I’d like to see him played in attack tomorrow night rather than in the wing-back role.

Walcott got a lovely goal against Doncaster in the League Cup so hopefully he can build on that tomorrow while Giroud is the man to lead the line up front with Lacazette rested.

Ozil and Iwobi didn’t train today and haven’t travelled to Belarus so they’re being rested and although Sanchez did take part in training this afternoon I hope we see him given a breather ahead of Brighton this weekend.

This would be my team on Thursday:

This side is more than capable of getting a result at BATE and we’ll have youngsters like Chuba Akpom, Eddie Nketiah, Matt Macey and Josh DaSilva to call upon from the bench if we can give them some European experience in the second half.