Arsenal have named an unchanged team for today’s Premier League meeting with Bournemouth.
Jurrien Timber is not involved at all this afternoon, despite having been in contention for a return to the senior squad for the first time in eight months following knee surgery.
The defender played twice for Arsenal’s Under-21s last week and was believed to be ready to feature for the first team again, though is absent once more on Saturday.
“Everybody is fit and available so now it’s the headache to make the right selection,” Gunners boss Mikel Arteta had said on Friday.
“It (Timber being back) increases the quality of the training sessions.
“You see how commanding he is, his leadership, his quality and the rest they have to lift it up and they start to demand more from each other.
“And they look at each other and say: ‘Mmm, I better be good because I want to keep playing.’ And this is very positive for the squad.”
Arteta has named the same side for the past two games and again resists the urge to make any changes against Bournemouth following last weekend’s chaotic 3-2 north London derby win over Tottenham.
Oleksandr Zinchenko was vying to come into the team at left-back, with his ability to open up defences possibly a valuable weapon against the in-form Cherries. However, Takehiro Tomiyasu keeps that spot this afternoon.
Jorginho was pushing to take Thomas Partey’s place in midfield, but the Ghanaian performed well in his two outings last week and retains his starting berth here.
Arteta also had a selection headache on the left flank, with Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard all options. However, it’s the latter who gets the nod once again in attack alongside Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz.
Arsenal starting XI (4-3-3): Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Trossard
Subs: Ramsdale, Gabriel Jesus, Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Nketiah, Kiwior, Jorginho, Vieira, Zinchenko
Absent: Timber
Saturday 12.30pm BST, TNT Sports
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Referee: David Coote
