Trossard could be among the Arsenal changes vs Wolves as three players axed

Mikel Arteta will have to disappoint a few Arsenal players as he aims to complete a perfect week when Wolves visit the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

After seeing his side beat Brentford 1-0 last weekend to take advantage of Manchester City's draw with Liverpool to move top of the Premier League table, the Gunners manager's response was to freshen things up for the UEFA Champions League clash at home to RC Lens four days later.

Unfortunately for the Spaniard, he was unable to call upon injured pair Thomas Partey and Emile Smith Rowe as well as Jurrien Timber - for injury and registration reasons - while losing Fabio Vieira as a result of groin surgery was a blow revealed in the pre-match press conference.

Having said that, in came David Raya and Kai Havertz - as a reward for his late winner at the Gtech Community Stadium - and following a near-perfect team performance in the 6-0 victory, few would be surprised if Arteta opted to name an unchanged starting XI for the visit of Gary O'Neill's side.

Although with little rest period in between fixtures and with Saturday's game marking the first of eight across all competitions in December, the Arsenal boss must make full use of his squad to ensure they remain in a good position to sustain a title challenge come the turn of the year.

Concerning possible changes, Ben White must be pushing for a start at right-back after making two substitute appearances in the past week. Whether he gets the nod over Takehiro Tomiyasu remains to be seen as the Japan international is in great form and claimed two assists against Lens.

Of course, there is the option of switching Tomiyasu over to left-back instead of Oleksandr Zinchenko but this does feel like a game tailor-made for the Ukraine international so Arteta has an extremely tough decision to make as he aims to keep his defensive options intact.

"I think he was excellent. He's played a lot of minutes and we have a really congested period," Arteta said when explaining Tomiyasu's half-time withdrawal on Wednesday night.

 "We are really short at the back at the moment and we had to use the squad and make some changes, give some rest and give some minutes to all the players."The other realistic change the Gunners manager could be considering is a recall for Leandro Trossard. An unused substitute against Lens, but he did start the two Premier League games either side of the international break - one as the central striker and the other in midfield.

Given each member of Arsenal's front five - Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard - scored against Lens it would take a brave person to drop any of them. Though, as the former is one yellow card away from a suspension, perhaps that will come into consideration.

Now, there will be enforced changes with regard to the matchday squad on Saturday. Against Lens, Arteta was permitted to name 12 substitutes but because Premier League rules only allow for nine players on the bench, this means three have to be axed and that could very well be Karl Hein, Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly provided no further senior players have to miss out.

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