Mikel Arteta will make half a dozen changes to the Arsenal starting lineup when they host LOSC Lille at the Emirates on Tuesday.
Arsenal will be eager to continue the winning start to their 2026/27 UEFA Champions League campaign when they welcome LOSC Lille to the Emirates on Tuesday night. Mikel Arteta has a new injury concern to worry about ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Piero Hincapie and Martin Zubimendi are the latest absentees after sustaining ankle injuries this past weekend. While Hincapie picked up his problem after coming on as a late substitute, Zubimendi suffered his issue during the pre-match warm-up procedures.
The duo accompanies William Saliba (back) and Christos Tzolis (hamstring) in the treatment room. During his pre-match press conference, Arteta provided fitness updates on Hincapie, Zubimendi, and Saliba.
The Arsenal manager said, “Well it happened, we had a training session planned after the game for the players that didn’t have enough minutes to get everybody the recovery day on Sunday, and to get everybody in the right rhythm. In two very unfortunate actions, we lost two players, and yeah, not great. We need to assess them today.”
“They have further scans to see where they are and they will have that time frame, how long they’re going to be out for. That’s why the consequence to that is when they have to play, they have no rhythm, and when you ask them to play, they’re going to have no impact in the game.”
“They [Hincapie and Zubimeindi] are both going to miss tomorrow’s match, that’s for sure, and today they’re going to have a further scan and probably tomorrow we’ll know more. Then we’ll see how they’re going to go. Piero’s one looks a little bit more serious I think, but we’ll have to wait and see. It’s over a week I think [Saliba has been on the grass], obviously we’re managing that load.”
David Raya is an automatic pick between the sticks, with Arsenal lining up in a 4-3-3 formation in front of him against LOSC Lille on Tuesday. The backline will feature Jurrien Timber, Cristhian Mosquera, Gabriel Magalhaes, and Myles Lewis-Skelly, with Riccardo Calafiori getting some rest.
As for the midfield unit, Bruno Guimaraes and Mikel Merino will return to line up alongside Martin Odegaard, with Arteta giving some rest to Declan Rice. Finally, Viktor Gyokeres will lead the line for the home side against Lille, with Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke being the two wide attackers.
Predicted Arsenal XI: Raya; Timber, Mosquera, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Guimaraes, Merino; Madueke, Gyokeres, Eze
