Sterling and Nwaneri picked, Saka and Partey rested for Man City - Dream Arsenal XI vs Atalanta
Arsenal were dealt a fixture nightmare when it emerged that not only would they travel to Aston Villa, Tottenham and Manchester City in the first five Premier League clashes but that they would see the latter pair of trips sandwich a Champions League flight to Italy to face Europa League winners Atalanta. Thankfully, Mikel Arteta's side remain unbeaten and have won two of the three away days in impressive, industrious fashion before the weekend visit up to the champions.
Atalanta, however, are a different challenge entirely and under Gian Piero Gasperini they are an unpredictable side. One week they can batter Bayer Leverkusen in a European final and the next they themselves are conceding four against Inter Milan.
In what we always discuss as a football.london dream scenarios, often they include players close to a return from injury as prayers are answered that individuals thought out might be fit. However, with the impending match against City on the horizon, the dream would be for Arsenal to make as many changes as possible and still win.
Therefore, hypothetically assuming a victory is secured, the team that would be ideal to see start the game has seven changes from the XI which beat Tottenham. In goal, a debut for Brazilian Neto is given the green light as Raya can focus on simply stopping Erling Haaland.
Two players sadly unable to be changed out due to the injuries to Takehiro Tomiyasu and Oleksandr Zinchenko are Ben White and William Saliba. However, both Gabriel and Jurrien Timber can be changed for Jakub Kiwior and the recently recovered Riccardo Calafiori.
Jorginho might have pictured himself in some sort of oxygen chamber recovering from the derby with Spurs, but giving Thomas Partey a rest ahead of Sunday would be ideal. Partey has missed multiple clashes with Manchester City and having him available for once in this particular fixture through a rest this midweek is certainly preferable.
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Declan Rice has returned from his suspension ready for two games in four days but the absence of Martin Odegaard remains a problem. In his stead, Ethan Nwaneri, the 17-year-old starlet, is tipped for big things and his first start for the club coming in such a game would be magic to see him take the responsibility and flourish.
Up top Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli can all be swapped out too. Gabriel Jesus takes the reins at the centre-forward position, looking to continue his fantastic goalscoring run in the competition.
While Raheem Sterling earns his first start in place of Saka on the right and Trossard starts on the left. An interesting three and one many will be keen to see how they fair.
Dream Arsenal XI vs Atalanta: Neto; White, Saliba, Calafiori, Kiwior, Jorginho, Rice, Nwaneri, Trossard, Sterling, Jesus.