Arsenal team news and predicted line ups: Emery to field strong team despite no Ozil and Ramsey
The Gunners will be hopeful of building a strong lead after the first leg against BATE Borisov despite being without a couple of stars
UNAI EMERY is set to recall Granit Xhaka to the starting line-up to face BATE Borisov tonight.
But there is no place for Mesut Ozil as his struggles at Arsenal continue.
The Gunners travel to Belarus for the first leg of their Europa League last-32 tie.
Alexandre Lacazette is set to be accompanied in attack by Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang and Henkrikh Mkhitaryan.
Emery is expected to stick with the back three he used at Huddersfield on Saturday.
That means Shkodran Mustafi, Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal should line up together again.
But this time they will be protecting Petr Cech in goal rather than regular Premier League stopper Bernd Leno.
Despite Ainsley Maitland-Niles grabbing an assist, both he and fellow wing-back Sead Kolasinac struggled at the John Smith's Stadium - the Bosnian scored an own goal in injury time.
But they are set to retain their place as Xhaka comes in for Matteo Guendouzi to partner Lucas Torreira in midfield.
The Swiss international has played just four times this year, most recently in the 3-1 FA Cup defeat to Manchester United.
Ozil, Sokratis and Aaron Ramsey did not make the trip to Belarus as they all missed parts of training this week.
Even if Ozil had been fully fit, it is unlikely he would have been involved.
Emery is looking to win the Europa League for the fourth time and that would ensure automatic qualification into the Champions League.
That could prove pivotal come the end of the season as the Gunners face a three-way race for a top-four finish with United and Chelsea.