- Arsenal ‘gaining in confidence’ to sign Bruno Guimaraes
- Arsenal ready to spend £60m to sign Michael Olise
- Arsenal have Marcus Thuram as Joshua Zirkzee’s back up plan
- Ferdi Kadioglu has agreed to join Arsenal this summer
- Arsenal eye swoop to sign Amadou Onana this summer
- Arsenal lead race to sign Bologna star Joshua Zirkzee
- Arsenal ready to sell trio to fund Bruno Guimaraes deal
- Arsenal target Xavi Simons can only leave PSG for a hefty fee
- Youssouf Fofana speaks out on future amid Arsenal interest
- Arsenal in battle to sign £55m Marc Guehi this summer
Confirmed line-ups: Brentford vs Arsenal: Balogun & Lokonga start for Gunners
Arsenal kick-off the new Premier League campaign when we take on Brentford at the Brentford Community Stadium this evening.
We’ve been dealt a major double blow ahead of the game with the news that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette have been ruled out due to illness. Therefore, Arteta has given Folarin Balogun his full debut up front and it’s a huge chance for the youngster.
Gabriel Martinelli also starts in the Arsenal attack along with Emile Smith Rowe and Nicolas Pepe with Bukayo Saka only fit enough for a place on the bench.
With Thomas Partey out injured, summer signing Albert Sambi Lokonga is handed his debut in midfield alongside Granit Xhaka. Mo Elneny is named among the substitutes.
Bernd Leno starts in goal for Arsenal while Kieran Tierney lines-up at left-back with new signing Ben White handed his full debut alongside Pablo Mari in the middle of the back four. Callum Chambers starts ahead of Hector Bellerin at right-back.
Karl Hein is the goalkeeper on the bench rather than Runarsson or Okonkwo while there is no place for Willian in the Arsenal squad tonight.
These are the line-ups for the game:
Arsenal
Leno; Chambers, White, Mari, Tierney; Xhaka, Sambi; Pepe, Smith Rowe, Martinelli; Balogun
Subs: Bellerin, Saka, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Cedric, Tavares, Nelson, Elneny, Hein
Brentford
Raya, Ajer, Jansson, Pinnock, Henry, Janelt, Onyeka, Mbeumo, Norgaard, Canos, Toney
Subs: Goode, Forss, Wissa, Gunnarsson, Ghoddos, Dervisoglu, Bidstrup, Sorensen, Roerslev