Declan Rice early Champions League team news hint dropped as Arsenal star sends message

Jorginho has hinted that he may again start for Arsenal in their midweek Champions League match against Sporting in Lisbon tonight.

In Declan Rice's absence, the Italy international started at the Emirates Stadium for the 3-0 weekend win over Nottingham Forest. However, the midfielder, who received a yellow card during the first half, was withdrawn at half-time, with Thomas Partey replacing him in midfield.

It was Jorginho 's first Premier League start since the 3-1 home defeat of Southampton seven weeks ago. The only other time Mikel Arteta named the midfielder in his starting line-up during that time was for the 3-0 victory at Preston North End in the League Cup fourth round.

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His appearances in the Gunners' side this season have largely been in place of Rice, as was the case against Forest and in mid-September's North London Derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which the England international missed through suspension. However, they did start together against Southampton and in the League Cup third round win over Bolton Wanderers.

That could again be the case in midweek, or Arteta may keep the same midfield as on the weekend. Jorginho has hinted that the latter could be the case after posting a matchday graphic on his Instagram story late on Monday night.

He notably also did the same ahead of the Forest match. Arsenal have also shared similar graphics before the Sporting match, featuring Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz. The former started and opened the scoring at the Emirates, while the latter was an unused substitute as Gabriel Jesus played the full 90 minutes.

Havertz has played every minute of their Champions League campaign, scoring the opening goal in the Gunners' win over Paris Saint-Germain. Saka scored the second in that 2-0 victory at the Emirates and has started all but one of Arsenal's matches in the competition, only missing the 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk through injury.