ARSENAL boss Unai Emery appears to have accidentally revealed his starting XI for Thursday’s clash with Valencia… and it looks like Shkodran Mustafi will start.
The Gunners host the Spanish giants in the first-leg of their Europa League semi-final.
The European route may be Arsenal‘s best shot of breaking back into the Champions League too – with Emery and Co currently sitting in fifth after an awful run of form.
However, Emery may just have given Valencia a massive advantage after what appears to be his starting XI was leaked in a training session on Wednesday.
With Aaron Ramsey, Denis Suarez, Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding and Danny Welbeck on the treatment table, Emery may have his hands tied with his selections.
Defender Nacho Monreal is also likely to miss out with a right calf injury.
The bad news for Arsenal fans keeps coming thick and fast, too – with under-fire Mustafi starting, if the line-up is correct.
Emery seems to be set on playing a 3-4-3, with Petr Cech preferred to Bernd Leno in goal.
Mustafi sits above Stephan Lichtsteiner on the right-side of a back-three – with Sokratis Papastathopoulos on top of Laurent Koscielny in the middle.
Konstantinos Mavropanos appears to be Emery’s only option for the left-side of defence.
In midfield, it looks as though Carl Jenkinson will start on the right hand side in more of a wing-back role – sitting above Ainsley Maitland-Niles on the sheet.
Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka currently occupy the two central midfield spots – with what looks to be Nacho Monreal on the left.
They are preferred to Mohamed Elneny, Matteo Guendouzi and Sead Kolasinac across the middle of the park.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan looks to be primed for the starting spot on the right wing, tipped to start over Mesut Ozil.
Emery will run with just one forward in this scenario, with Alexandre Lacazette benched in favour of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The Gunners boss’ hand blocks the left-wing spot – but a fair guess would be to assume Alex Iwobi will start on that flank.
Of course, this may have just been little more than a training drill.
But if not, Emery may want to consider a late reshuffle to avoid giving Valencia an unexpected advantage ahead of Thursday night’s game.
