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Confirmed: Arsenal Line-Up vs Lille in the Champions League
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- Confirmed: Arsenal Line-Up vs Lille in the Champions League
(IMAGO / Every Second Media)
Arsenal have confirmed their starting line-up as they welcome Lille to the Emirates Stadium in their first home match of this season's Champions League league phase.
The Gunners were victorious at Napoli in the opening match of the campaign, after a second-half winner from Martin Ødegaard, who appears on the bench tonight.
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Mikel Arteta makes five changes from the side that came from behind to beat Leeds United on Saturday, with Bruno Guimarães being rewarded with his first start at The Emirates after scoring the winner from the bench last weekend.
Jurriën Timber starts at The Emirates for the first time since being forced off in March, as Lewis-Skelly moves to left-back following the injury of Piero Hincapié on Saturday afternoon.
The Gunners have also made changes to their forward line, with Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyökeres both given the nod, whilst Noni Madueke switches to the right flank after an impressive display against Leeds.
William Saliba and Christos Tzolis remain sidelined, whilst Martin Zubimendi also misses out after sustaining an injury alongside Hincapié in the warm-down after Leeds .
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Academy pair Ceadach O'Neill and Maalik Hashi are among the substitutes, with both 18-year-olds in line for their first taste of Champions League football. Max Dowman and Marli Salmon, who have experienced European action, also find themselves on the bench.
The Arsenal players will wear black armbands in memory of Life President Ken Friar OBE, whose passing was announced by the club earlier today.
Arsenal starting XI:Raya; Timber, Konsa, Magalhães, Lewis-Skelly; Guimarães, Merino, Ricce; Madueke, Eze, Gyökeres
Substitutes:Arrizabalaga, Meslier, Mosquera, White, Calafiori, Salmon, Ødegaard, Dowman, Hashi, Saka, Havertz, O'Neill
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Lille starting XI:Özer; Perraud, Ribeiro, Ngoy, Goffi; Bentaleb, André, Haraldsson; Mukau, Bakwa, Ueda
Substitutes:Gill, Sajous, Srdanovic, Nianzou, Verdonk, Cossier, Sahraoui, Kjaergaard, Önal, Perrin, Giroud, Diaoune
Lille arrive without Tiago Santos, who suffered an ACL rupture at the weekend, whilst Romain Perraud was also forced off but is deemed fit enough to start.
Ethan Mbappé is also unavailable for selection, both due to injury and suspension after his red card against Real Betis in their opening Champions League match last month.
Former Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud finds himself named on the bench for his return to north London.
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David Ancelotti's side have lost just one of their opening six Ligue 1 games, but face an Arsenal side looking to build on their run to last season's final, which ended in a penalty shootout defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest.
The match gets underway at 20:00 BST, with the match shown on TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports Ultimate and HBO Max in the UK.
