Arsenal take on Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium in their first Premier League match of the new year. Mikel Arteta knows this is no simple challenge with the Bees’ home form very impressive indeed and having taken plenty of scalps off the big sides.

He will also continue to navigate his team selection without Bukayo Saka in the squad as his recovery from a hamstring surgery begins. Defensively, the side was sublime in 2024, but he needs to unlock another level in terms of goalscoring.

Arteta needs to find a way of integrating some of his forwards who have been overshadowed in the absence of Saka. With that in mind, football.london runs through what a dream scenario for the team’s line-up might look like in the first match of 2025.

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David Raya is naturally the obvious choice in goal. Whether a January arrival will see any competition come in remains to be seen, with on-loan stopper Neto perhaps waiting for the FA Cup before finally getting some minutes.

Myles Lewis-Skelly has been a great breakout player this year, but Riccardo Calafiori needs to come back into the side and get some valuable minutes. The Italian was an unused substitute against Ipswich and so is fully rested to take on Brentford and try to help lock down Bryan Mbeumo.

Jurrien Timber, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes are going to be expected to play plenty of minutes through the next five months. Whether defensive additions are made and whether Ben White’s return is closing in remains to be seen.

Declan Rice performed well anchoring the Arsenal midfield against Ipswich Town and the improved mobility compared to Thomas Partey was certainly on show. Ahead of him, when Mikel Merino came on, Arsenal were at their most-threatening and therefore it makes sense for the Spaniard to come in alongside Martin Odegaard.

Up top, Gabriel Jesus remains the starting centre-forward, looking to add to his five goals in the last three games. Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard drop to the bench in order to offer Arteta something extra from a substitution point of view that was not the case on Friday evening.

Gabriel Martinelli returns to his natural left wing. Ethan Nwaneri would be a great pick to see if he can offer more on the right and, with his left-footed nature, provide something more similar to Saka's.

Dream Arsenal XI vs Brentford: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Rice, Merino, Odegaard, Nwaneri, Jesus, Martinelli.