Morning all. We’re in Premier League action this evening when we take on Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. After some rotation in midweek, I expect some more this evening, with some of the players who didn’t start in Napoli coming back into contention. That will probably mean Riccardo Calafiori at left-back, Christos Tzolis and Kai Havertz in the front three, and I do wonder a little about midfield. Myles Lewis-Skelly has been very good so far this season, but we spent £75m on Bruno Guimaraes for a reason, and if he’s fit enough to start I suspect he’ll be firmly in the manager’s thoughts for this evening. The added spice of a former Newcastle player away at Sunderland won’t be any impediment to him getting the nod, but if there is still a need to be cautious about his fitness, then Myles alongside Declan Rice with the Brazilian as a second half option is hardly any kind of problem. As for Sunderland, we know this is going to be tough. They made it really difficult for us there last season, and conceding a late goal there was one of those moments that added to the doubts we might have had about our ability to go the distance. Thankfully, it didn’t matter in the end, but it’s a good reminder of what we’ll face later on. Perhaps there was a bit of a surprise package element to them last time out. Having just been promoted, there was probably a school of thought that they’d struggle, like most sides that come up, but they went a long time unbeaten at home, and in the end finished high enough to achieve European football for this season. This time out, we know a bit more about what they do and how they do it, but Mikel Arteta will be taking nothing for granted: Last year, we dropped points there, especially in the last minutes. We experienced and learned a lot from that game. Tomorrow, again, we’ll discuss many things that we need to be aware of and where we want to take the game, what their qualities are and how we’ll try to nullify them. I think the manager will be really encouraged by the performance in Napoli, bar the finishing obviously, and the fact that the level of the team was so high even if some of the players who came in didn’t have their best games. If we can replicate that kind of level today, regardless of how strong Sunderland are at home, we’re going to make life very difficult for them. That has to be the target, and if we create the same kind of opportunities later on, I fancy us to be just a bit more clinical than we were on Wednesday. Fingers crossed. — Elsewhere, Arteta spoke about Declan Rice and the amount of minutes he plays. Asked if he’s ready to be front and present throughout most of a gruelling season, he they were conscious of how much is asked of him: Obviously we are very aware of the load, and it’s not just physical load; it’s the cognitive load as well of every player. But that his importance to the team means he’s going to play a lot: I think it’s the quality of those minutes, of those games and the need that the team should have to do that. I think we need to be very smart to understand and to try to get the best out of him, but especially the quality that we need in the minutes that he plays. When you look at the midfield options available to him right now, you’d hope there isn’t the same burden placed on Rice as there was last season. Still, he did 90 minutes in midweek, ending the game at right-back so we could rest Ben White a little, and that all round ability will probably see situations like that occur again between now and May. But with Martin Zubimendi, Mikel Merino, and Guimaraes all looking for minutes, there has to be scope for more rotation as this campaign progresses. There was also some press conference chat about the delayed trip to Naples in midweek and how, during pre-season, the manager kept people on their toes by changing things at the last minute, delaying meal times etc. He explained: I love those challenges. I try to create them in pre-season. So when they happen, we already experience them and we already know. So get to the stadium very late, change the routine and suddenly the players have to do something else. Because when it happens, and it can happen, you can miss the flight, the train can be delayed, there’s so much traffic and I don’t want the players, but not only the players, the staff as well, panicking. So when that happens, adapt to it. Okay, we have another two or three hours on the plane. How can we use them, play together, spend some time together, sleep? Use it, but certainly don’t complain and then use it as an excuse because that’s not helpful at all. It’s not the first time either. We’ve all heard the stories about pickpockets at team dinners and so on, and for a longer look at some of Arteta’s more unconventional antics, this Arseblog News exclusive has you covered. — Right, I’ll leave it there for this morning. As ever, we’ll bring you live blog coverage of the game later, as well all the post-game stuff on Arseblog News like the match report, player ratings, manager reaction, quotes round-up and more. There’s also a preview podcast on Patreon if you need something to listen to ahead of another 8pm kick-off. Catch you later for the game. The post A little rotation again as we take on Sunderland away appeared first on Arseblog ... an Arsenal blog.