How Arsenal could line up against Porto

The Brazil international was unavailable for the 2-1 Premier League win over Brentford on Saturday evening, having sustained a deep cut to his right foot against Sheffield United on March 4.

Mikel Arteta was initially hopeful that Martinelli would be fit for the clash with the Bees, but the winger was then seen making his way through the mixed zone on crutches after the triumph, which took Arsenal to the top of the table.

Fans are anxiously waiting to hear the latest on both Martinelli and Takehiro Tomiyasu - still waiting for his first Arsenal appearance of 2024 due to a knock - but Jurrien Timber (ACL) is definitely out.

One good piece of injury news arrived on Saturday, though, as Oleksandr Zinchenko came off the bench following his latest calf concern and should now be in contention to demote Jakub Kiwior, despite the Pole's improvement at left-back.

Ben White, Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba will form the rest of Arsenal's recognisable barrier in front of David Raya, who will take the gloves back of Aaron Ramsdale following the Englishman's mixed afternoon against his teammate's parent club.

Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice remain stalwarts in the middle, and Jorginho should fend off the fit-again Thomas Partey to join them, having sprayed some exquisite passes into the final third against Brentford.

Fresh from scoring for the fourth Premier League game running to take Arsenal top, Kai Havertz is primed to lead the line with support from Bukayo Saka, and Arteta may be tempted to swap out Leandro Trossard for the unpredicable Gabriel Jesus if Martinelli is not passed fit.

Arsenal possible starting lineup:

Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Jesus