Tierney and Zinchenko start, key stars rested for Real Madrid – Arsenal line-ups vs Brentford

football.london’s writers decide how they think Mikel Arteta should line his Arsenal side up for their Premier League clash against Brentford

Arsenal take on Brentford at the Emirates Stadium, looking to build from their impressive win over Real Madrid and keep up the momentum for the return leg. It is not about bringing people back down to Earth but keeping the players in a state of ‘we can beat anyone’ attitude as they plough through the remainder of the campaign.

Momentum is a hard thing to stop once it gets going, and last season that saw Mikel Arteta’s side finish the second half of the campaign with a very impressive streak as they broke records for wins and goals scored. While that will not happen here, it could yet end with a better prize than anything that has gone before – barring that gold trophy. Yes, that’s right, it is gold.

Back to reality, however, and the line-up this weekend is likely to see some serious rotation. With that in mind, our football.london writers have given their thoughts on who should play the Bees on Saturday evening.

Tom Canton

You cannot help it; it is normal, particularly when the magnitude of the next game after the next game is against Real Madrid, in the Bernabeu, when you already have a three-goal lead to want to make major changes. The league is probably gone, if we’re being honest, and frankly, I would like as few players who will play next week to play this weekend.

The thing is, we have depth, and Arsenal can bring in players like Ben White, Jorginho, Kieran Tierney, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Ethan Nwaneri, Leandro Trossard and Raheem Sterling and have a very strong side. With the seven changes I have made from the team that beat Los Blancos, it is clear where we cannot necessarily rotate.

Goalkeeper, the centre of defence and attacking midfield. Frankly, I have less of an issue playing these four because both Martin Odegaard and Jakub Kiwior could do with the game time to improve form and readiness for the task ahead.

Canton’s Arsenal XI vs Brentford: Raya; White, Saliba, Kiwior, Tierney, Jorginho, Zinchenko, Odegaard; Nwaneri, Trossard, Sterling.

Joe Doyle

While there is still the matter of securing a top-five finish to think about, in reality Arsenal’s 10-point buffer should be enough to see them handily into Champions League qualification next season.

And now you have to say the worst of the injury crisis is over – although naturally I won’t try and jinx things for Gunners fans by saying it’s done. But it does mean rotation is the name of the game against Brentford.

One area there probably won’t be a change is in goal. David Raya starts. In defence, I’d go with Ben White at right-back, William Saliba at centre-back out of necessity alongside Jakub Kiwior with Oleksandr Zinchenko at left-back.

In midfield, Jorginho starts and if he wasn’t proving quite so vital it’d be Myles Lewis-Skelly alongside him. However, I’ll go instead for Thomas Partey.

In a slight change, I’d like to see Ethan Nwaneri in the midfield. It’s worth seeing how he could fill in for Martin Odegaard if the need should arise at some point.

In attack, I’ll give rests to the starting trio from midweek, and go Raheem Sterling, Leandro Trossard and Kieran Tierney. Just for a bit of chaos.

Doyle’s Arsenal XI vs Brentford: Raya; White, Saliba, Kiwior, Zinchenko; Jorginho, Partey, Nwaneri; Sterling, Trossard, Tierney.