How Arsenal could line up against Brentford

While his move should be made permanent this summer, David Raya is still on loan in North London from the Bees, and the Spaniard therefore cannot line up against his parent club this weekend.

As a result, the seldom-seen Aaron Ramsdale will come in for his first Premier League appearance since the reverse fixture against Brentford, where he kept a clean sheet in November's 1-0 win despite a couple of calamities.

Raya is one of two guaranteed absentees for Arsenal alongside ACL victim Jurrien Timber, whose fellow full-backs Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knock) will need assessment closer to kickoff.

Arteta was also forced to bring Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli off in the 6-0 thrashing of Sheffield United due to sickness and a cut to the foot respectively, but the former's virus should not impact his availability this weekend.

However, with Porto on the horizon, Arteta may wish to protect Martinelli and introduce Leandro Trossard into the three-pronged attack with Saka and Kai Havertz, still keeping Gabriel Jesus at bay on account of scoring in three successive Premier League fixtures.

The newly-fit Thomas Partey is an option in midfield again, but there should be no reason for Arteta to alter the effective trio of Jorginho, Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice, the latter of whom is now on 10 goal contributions for the Premier League season.

Slowly coming into his own at left-back, Jakub Kiwior is primed to form an untouched backline with Ben White, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes in front of the reinstated Ramsdale.

Arsenal possible starting lineup:

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