The Europa League is one of Arsenal’s designated competitions for blooding youngsters and giving fringe players minute but, with his job on the line, the pressure on Unai Emery may be too great for him to avoid the temptation to turn to senior players against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Arsenal only need to draw on Thursday night to guarantee their place in the knockout stages whilst a defeat could even be enough if Standard Liege do not win. Ahead of what threatens to be a tough trip to Norwich City on Sunday Emery might usually opt to rest some of his most important players.
However these are not normal times for Emery, who is battling to hold on to his job, and it was significant that senior players such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and David Luiz trained with the first-team ahead of the visit of Frankfurt to the Emirates Stadium. Previously those senior players have been rested not just from matches but from training as well.
Meanwhile football.london understands Emile Smith Rowe has been moved down to the Under-23s in a further sign that Emery plans to name a strong side. The youngster would usually be among those earmarked for minutes in the Europa League but could well feel he is a victim of his head coach's need for short-term success.
So whilst Europa League stalwarts such as Emiliano Martinez, Gabriel Martinelli and Shkodran Mustafi are in line to feature the likes of Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe could find themselves in contention.
Emery also indicated that Granit Xhaka was in his plans and the deposed club captain could make his first appearance since swearing at supporters at the Emirates Stadium when he was substituted in last month's draw with Crystal Palace.
Predicted Arsenal XI: Martinez; Chambers, Sokratis, Mustafi; Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Willock, Tierney; Pepe, Aubameyang, Martinelli
