With Manchester City at the weekend and a few Arsenal players carrying knocks, will Mikel Arteta be tempted to make Europa League-style changes tonight in the champions League?
For the Europa League, Arteta tended to put out what I like to call a 50/50 team.
Half the outfield players would be from his regular starting XI, the other half would be second string.
If we were playing Lens in the Europa League, Arteta would go with this tactic without blinking. So why would he feel the need to put out a stronger team just because it is the Champions League.
In the League Cup, we also played a 50/50 team against a full strength Brentford side. The Bees currently sit 13th in the table. Lens are currently 15 in Ligue 1. They have just two league wins all season.
We should be looking to put out a team that we think can beat Lens and not necessarily our strongest team.
I would rest Bukayo Saka (if he is fit). He has been in the wars lately and gone off in both of our last two Premier League games with a knock. We should be able to beat Lens with Reiss Nelson up top.
Likewise, I would give Gabriel Jesus a break.
The Brazilian is not too long back from injury. Give him a mid-week off, play Eddie Nketiah, and then Jesus is fully rested to play up-front on Sunday.
Declan Rice would be another I would be tempted to leave out. He is a big player and could be the difference against Manchester City, who are without Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne. If Jorginho can not out play a Lens team, he should not be at Arsenal.
Next one I would give a midweek break to would be William Saliba.
The Frenchman was on the “late fitness test” list for Bournemouth on Saturday. His one-on-one match up against Erling Haaland will be a battle. Takehiro Tomiyasu showed v a physical Bournemouth side that he is more than compotent in defence.
So my team for tonight?
And then I would be looking towards Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira to come on for Martin Odegaard and Leandro Trossard in and around the 60 minute work.
But I also get why Arteta might not go down this route.
it is important to qualify from our Champions League group top. Too often in the Arsene Wenger years we ended up finishing 2nd and got drawn against Barcelona or Bayern Munich.
Yes, you have to play the best if you want to be the best, but it will be nice in March (I think?) if we were to be playing someone like Red Bull Salzburg, Feyenoord or RB Leipzig rather than one of Europe’s real big boys.
As Inter Milan showed last season, the draw can quickly open up for you if results go your way (the beat Porto, Benfica and AC Milan on route to the final).
It is also important that we wrap up the group quickly.
We want to get 12 points from those opening 4 games and be gauranteed top with 2 games to go. Then we can begin resting players ahead of the hectic Christmas period.
You do not want to be travelling to PSV on 12 December and putting out your first XI because you still need a win to finish top. You want to be able to put out a 100% second string team for that.
We have 8 games scheduled for December. We need to try and make that PSV game meaningless so that it reduces the workload for the first XI.
Saying that, I think we can beat Lens with the team I put up.
Play the team, not the occassion, put out an XI you think can win the game, get the 3 points, then on to City.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 