In the absence of Saka the starting 11 to face Man City

 By 1970s Gooner 

What was obvious to everyone except Arteta has happened. It was so apparent that Saka needed a rest but Arteta obviously thinks that he is so important to this team he ought to play even on one leg! 

Well it's now very unlikely in my opinion that Saka will be able or allowed to start on Sunday. 

Given that Martinelli has not trained at all yet with the team shows that even if he is declared physically fit he most certainly will not be match fit either.

Just like Trossard was against Lens where he wasn't able to affect the game and fluffed the great chance he had to score.

I would start him on Sunday however and hope that he has gained some sharpness from last night's game.

Just to mention also that Arteta's substitutions came late last night and this is also another area he has to improve on. It was fairly obvious that Lens had started to gain ground about 10 minutes before they scored their second and that was when some substitutions should have been made to steady the ship.

It's now a new game on Sunday and there are two weaknesses that have to be addressed. 

The first one is the openness of our left hand side where Zinchenko's inversion into midfield leaves a gap which Lens did exploit and Man City surely will. Especially since Havertz does not have the skills nor is he really adept at falling back to cover for that side unlike Xhaka used to.

So in the starting 11 consideration should be given for Partey to start which will add more steel in our midfield and allow Rice to play more to the left to provide the necessary cover.

Partey was on the bench against Lens and has trained with the team so I think he can start on Sunday. Remember he was playing the last time we played against City in the charity shield.

If Partey is not fit to start then Arteta may think a little bit out of the box and bring in midfield Zinchenko and start Tomiyasou at left back. This arrangement looks promising to me.

The other weakness was on our right side where White was benched against Lens but Tomiyasu was not able to be as offensive as White can. White has to return of course.

And lastly who replaces Saka? Well Arteta has two options. One is to bring back Nketiah in the middle and play Jesus on the right side (last time he played on the left). And the other is to give Nelson a chance as I don't consider Smith Row to be able to play that role and I would certainly not play Vieira there as that's not his position really.

Ramsdale should start but Arteta will probably start Raya..

Ramsdale

White Saliba Gabriel Zinchenko 

Odegaard Partey Rice

Jesus  Nketiah Trossard

Alternative 11

Ramsdale

White Saliba Gabriel Tomiyasou 

Odegaard Rice Zinchenko 

Jesus Nketiah Trossard