Reiss Nelson and Arsenal stars can return against West Ham amid ongoing William Saliba concern
Mikel Arteta shocked everyone by heavily rotating his Arsenal side for their Premier League clash with Sheffield United on Saturday. The Gunners boss made five changes all told.
Admittedly one of these was enforced. Gabriel Jesus had picked up a muscle injury against Sevilla in the Champions League, meaning that Eddie Nketiah came in to replace the Brazilian up top. Elsewhere Kai Havertz, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jakub Kiwior all came in, while Emile Smith Rowe was handed his first league start of the season.
«We have players with enormous quality and we have to choose,» Arteta said of his decision in his post-match press conference. «We believe that it was the right day to do so.»
Be that as it may, it was still a shock to see so many changes. Perhaps the main reason for this was that Arteta has the perfect opportunity to rotate his side when they travel to West Ham in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.
Still, the Spaniard is expected to ring the changes once again at the London Stadium. While Arsenal would be among the favourites to win the competition should they progress following Manchester City's exit, it remains a chance for the Gunners to protect some of their most important stars as the Premier League and Champions League campaigns intensify.
Chief among these is William Saliba. After Ben White came off midway through the second half of Saturday's 5-0 win, the Frenchman was left as the only player to have played every minute for Arsenal so far this season. That's because he is probably the most important player in this squad. Saliba has been managing an ongoing toe injury that kept him out of international duty with France, and is likely to be given the night off in east London.
Bukayo Saka not considering burnout factor
Read on football.london
