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Confirmed line-ups: Arsenal vs Porto – Trossard starts as Martinelli misses out

By on March 12, 2024

Bukayo Saka Leandro Trossard Kai Havertz Arsenal

Arsenal need to turn the tie around when we take on Porto at the Emirates Stadium in the last-16 of the Champions League tonight.

Despite dominating for much of the first leg in Portugal, Arsenal slumped to a 1-0 defeat thanks to a painful last minute wonder strike from Galeno after we had given away possession cheaply.

It was a rare off-night from the boys as we’ve been in stunning form since the winter break, winning all eight of our Premier League games during that time. The latest victory came with a dramatic 2-1 win over Brentford at the weekend that saw us move top of the table, so the players should be coming into this match in confident mood.

David Raya wasn’t able to play against his parent club on Saturday but he returns in goal tonight. Aaron Ramsdale drops to the bench after a mixed display at the weekend that saw him make up for a horror mistake with some fine saves to keep us in the game in the second half.

Ben White, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes all keep their places in the Arsenal defence tonight. Jacub Kiwior has been very good at left-back and he keeps his place so Oleksandr Zinchenko has to settle for a place on the bench.

Declan Rice starts in midfield once again and he’ll be looking to continue his superb form, while Jorginho keeps his place ahead of Thomas Partey. Martin Odegaard captains the side and Arteta will be looking to his skipper to set the tone this evening.

Bukayo Saka starts on the right wing after overcoming illness and playing the full ninety minutes on Saturday. However, unfortunately, Gabriel Martinelli isn’t involved as he’s not recovered from his foot problem.

Leandro Trossard starts on the left wing with Kai Havertz keeping his place up front so Gabriel Jesus has to make do with a place among the Arsenal substitutes.

Here are the teams:

Arsenal

Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior; Jorginho, Rice; Saka, Odegaard, Havertz, Trossard

Subs: Ramsdale, Hein, Partey, Jesus, Smith Rowe, Nketiah, Cedric, Tomiyasu, Fabio Vieira, Nelson, Elneny, Zinchenko.

Porto

Diogo Costa; João Mário, Pepe, Otávio, Wendell, Varela, González, Pepê, Galeno, Conceição, Evanilson.

Subs: Fabio Cardoso, Eustaquio, Grujic, Taremi, Claudio Ramos, Sanchez, Jaime, Loader, Baro, Martinez, Borges, Ze Pedro