Arsenal’s six-year hiatus from the UEFA Champions League will come to a long-awaited end on Wednesday, as Mikel Arteta’s men welcome PSV Eindhoven to the Emirates Stadium. Buoyed by an impressive run of form in the Premier League so far this season, the Gunners will seek to dispatch their Dutch opponents and commence their European campaign with three points in North London.
The reigning Eredivisie champions have also enjoyed an unbeaten start to their league campaign though, winning all four of their matches thus far – including 4-0 wins in both of their last two fixtures. Peter Bosz’s side certainly know where the back of the net is, and they’ll be looking to continue that free-scoring run on Wednesday evening.
With David Raya having started against Everton on the weekend, there had been plenty of debate in the buildup to this clash as to whether the Spaniard would retain his spot in Mikel Arteta’s preferred eleven. It appears the recent acquisition did enough to remain in favour, as he’s starting between the sticks against PSV.
An unchanged defence of Ben White, Gabriel, William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko starts in front of David Raya. Kai Havertz replaces Fabio Vieira in midfield, with the German starting alongside Declan Rice and Martin Ødegaard.
With Gabriel Martinelli forced off against Everton through injury, Leandro Trossard makes the starting eleven after scoring the decisive goal in that Premier League fixture. He’ll be joined by Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka, with Eddie Nketiah forced to settle for a space on the bench.
PSV’s lineup features two changes from their win against NEC Nijmegen. Walter Benítez starts in goal once again, with a back four of Jordan Teze, Armel Bella-Kotchap, Olivier Boscagli and Sergiño Dest in front of him. Patrick van Aanholt and André Ramalho drop to the bench.
An otherwise unchanged lineup sees Jerdy Schouten start alongside Ismael Saibari and Joey Veerman in midfield, while a front three of Johan Bakayoko, Luuk de Jong and Noa Lang will strive to test David Raya in the Arsenal goal.
ARS: Raya; Zinchenko, Gabriel, Saliba, White; Havertz, Rice, Ødegaard; Trossard, Jesus, Saka
PSV: Benítez; Teze, Bella-Kotchap, Boscagli, Dest; Schouten, Saibari, Veerman; Bakayoko, de Jong, Lang
