Morning everyone. Arsenal are in Champions League action this evening, away to Slavia Prague. There was a big boost ahead of the game with the return of William Saliba to full training, and the Frenchman is with the squad for the game this evening. Whether he starts or not is another question, but he’s clearly in good enough shape to be in contention for some minutes, and that can only be a good thing. It was obviously a topic of conversation at the manager’s pre-game press conference yesterday evening, and provided an update on how the recovery has gone: He’s in a really good place. I think the process and the timings and in the manner the injury has been dealt with, and especially the feelings that Willy has been having along the way, they’ve been very, very positive. So, his evolution has been as expected, which is not always the case. He feels very comfortable. He played 45 minutes behind closed doors last week and he feels ready to go. So whether we use him or not now is a matter of what the team needs. There have rightfully been plenty of plaudits for Ezri Konsa since his arrival, and the way he’s slotted into the team, and there was a question about how he solves the two into three ‘problem’ when choosing his central defenders going forward: So far we haven’t had that luxury, I wouldn’t call it a problem! We can talk about problems that are very different to that one. The moment that they are fit and available, we’re going to have the opportunity to give players rest or to load the players and to manage the congestion of the players in a much better way than we’ve actually done. That is most definitely the kind of problem any manager would like to have. There’s no need to rush Saliba back, we can be cautious with his reintegration, and then when we have the problem of deciding who plays in which game, it feels very much like the kind of bridge we can cross when we come to it. But it’s a very nice bridge. Beyond that, I think there’s some real room for rotation this evening. Players like Ben White, Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapie will be looking for minutes at the back, and if we don’t see either Declan Rice or Martin Odegaard in the starting line-up this evening, I’d be absolutely fine with that. The manager can choose two World Cup winners in midfield, and still leave out one of Myles Lewis-Skelly or Bruno Guimaraes if he does that – it’s the kind of ‘luxury’ he needs to lean into. Speaking about Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi, he said of their involvement so far this season: They are playing a pivotal role. If we focus on the players that are starting, obviously that’s something else. Mikel has started some games already, some important games and he’s coming from a World Cup, a very successful World Cup. We know the value of the players that we have in the squad. They need to feel important. I do think that they feel very important and we have to make sure that they continue like that because if they have that spirit and that belief within themselves every time they play, they will make things happen for the team to win the game. Up front, it’s a little trickier. Eberechi was a doubt for the game against Liverpool, while Christos Tzolis player almost the full 90 after his return from injury. I wonder is there any scope to start Max Dowman on the right, which means you can time-share the left between the two I just mentioned and/or Noni Madueke. I think you also have to look at this as another chance for Viktor Gyokeres who did get on the scoresheet against Fleetwood, but on a night when any kind of confidence boost that might have provided was offset by the fact we lost to lower league opposition. His minutes have been a bit scarce so far this season, but you’d be very hard pressed to argue that when he has played he’s done enough to give the manager much to think about. He could really use goals and a decent performance this evening. I suppose that defeat to Fleetwood might give Arteta some pause for thought when it comes to how much he might rotate, but if you can’t give players minutes in games like this, then they’re not going to be in the kind of shape you need them be in if and when they’re required for more challenging fixtures. It’s not to take anything for granted against a side who are top of their domestic league, but in Europe this season they’ve been a bit poor, and if this isn’t the time to test our squad depth, I don’t know what is. Let’s see! — Before we go today, Andrew Allen has a feature in his weekly Patreon newsletter which covers match day recommendations. It started with restaurants/bars etc close to the ground, but has expanded over time into something much more global. With the help of @bootifulgame.bsky.social – they’ve built a really cool interactive tool which you can check out here – https://matchday.arseblog.com/ – and which now exists as a permanent feature on this site. We often get questions about ‘Where can I watch with Arsenal fans when I’m in X city’ etc, and there are already lots of places listed around the world. If you want to add to the map, you can submit a recommendation to show where your local bar or venue is, and if you’re travelling somewhere, this is the perfect reference for when there’s an Arsenal game on and you want to hang out with fellow fans. It’s real community project, designed to bring supporters together, and which can improve over time with your help. I’m sure it’s going to be really useful, and we’ll try and build it into the apps going forward too. — 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. Don’t forget the updated Arseblog apps also have a cool new matchday centre, full of stats, alerts, and much more. Catch you later for the game. The post Saliba returns with scope for rotation against Slavia Prague appeared first on Arseblog ... an Arsenal blog.