Arsenal named their official squad for the 2016/17 Champions League group stage today and there were a couple of surprises.
The Gunners are set to begin their European campaign with a trip to face French champions Paris Saint Germain in a fortnight. Arsene Wenger has often utilised the latter matches of the group stage as a chance to hand fringe players some playing time.
But after last year’s chaos which nearly cost them a place in the knock-out stages for the first time in over a decade, the Arsenal boss is likely to play his strongest starting eleven more often this term.
All of Arsenal’s new signings (apart from the on-loan Takuma Asano) have been included in the club’s official squad for this seaosn but interestingly, two senior players have been omitted.
Danny Welbeck and Per Mertesacker, who were supposed to return to action by December have been excluded from the list under the assumption that they are unlikely to return to action early enough to feature.
U-21 players like Hector Bellerin, Alex Iwobi and Chuba Akpom who have been at the club for more than two years are automatically registered by UEFA and therefore not mentioned below.
Goalkeepers:
David Ospina, Emiliano Martinez, Petr Cech
Defenders:
Mathieu Debuchy, Gabriel, Laurent Koscielny, Rob Holding, Nacho Monreal, Shkodran Mustafi, Carl Jenkinson, Kieran Gibbs.
Midfielders:
Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla, Granit Xhaka, Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Francis Coquelin, Mohamed Elneny, Krystian Bielik, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Forwards:
Alexis Sánchez, Lucas Perez, Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott, Yaya Sanogo.
