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[Photos] 18-year-old travels as Arsenal squad flies out for Vitoria clash
The Arsenal squad flew out of London this afternoon en route to Portugal ahead of Wednesday afternoon’s Europa League clash with Vitoria.
Arsenal’s game has been moved from Thursday to Wednesday and has to kick off at 3.50pm UK time due to a clash in broadcasting so the players won’t have too much time to adjust having flown out to Portugal this afternoon.
The players trained at London Colney in the morning with Granit Xhaka part of the group and the midfielder is expected to return to the starting eleven tomorrow after missing the last two matches following his on-field bust-up with the fans.
Emery is set to rotate his squad with several key men rested ahead of Saturday’s important Premier League trip to Leicester City so we should see the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Matteo Guendouzi, Sokratis and David Luiz given a breather against Vitoria.
Bukayo Saka is expected to be recalled and he’s been confirmed as part of the travelling squad after a selection of photos were uploaded of the Arsenal players on board the plane this afternoon. The 18-year-old didn’t start against Wolves at the weekend so I expect him to return to the line-up tomorrow.
Gabriel Martinelli, Rob Holding and Emi Martinez were also snapped on the plane and they should all be recalled to the starting eleven against Vitoria along with the likes of Shkodran Mustafi, Joe Willock, and Emile Smith Rowe.
Kieran Tierney, Bernd Leno and Lucas Torreira have also been photographed as being part of the travelling Arsenal squad but I don’t see any of them starting against Vitoria as they’ll be rested ahead of the trip to Leicester.
Arsenal have no fresh injury concerns to worry about and we have a fully-fit squad to choose from as Reiss Nelson is back in contention after recovering from a knee injury.
Here are more photos of the players heading off to Portugal this afternoon:
***Update*** Arsenal have now confirmed the travelling squad and Xhaka has been left at home while Smith Rowe has been ruled out with a minor calf problem.