The bench fills up and new faces go into the starting eleven vs Dinamo

 By Danong

Champions League football returns at the Emirates Stadium tonight as Arsenal take on Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb.

After a 2-2 draw with Aston Villa, Arsenal now have just one win in their last five games (with two draws and two losses) across all competitions. They will surely be keen to get back to winning ways.

Dinamo, on the other hand, settled for a draw in their last game and are on a run of two wins, two draws, and one loss in their last five games.

Form aside, this game is of great importance for both sides. Arsenal, currently 5th in the Champions League standings, will be hoping to secure their spot in the top 8 with a win for automatic qualification to the UCL round of 16.

Dinamo Zagreb, 25th in the table, will want to sneak into the top 24 teams and have a chance to book a UCL knockout spot through the playoffs.

Team News
Ben White, William Saliba, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, and Takehiro Tomiyasu are still expected to be out for Arsenal due to injury.

The Gunners could welcome back Ethan Nwaneri and Riccardo Calafiori for their squad for this clash. 

However, despite being available, it’s likely that Nwaneri and Calafiori will be on the bench providing better quality and experience than the academy players who were on the bench against Aston Villa.

Thomas Partey and Declan Rice might be rested, with Mikel Merino and Jakub Kiwior deserving minutes. 

Given limited attacking options, Arteta will probably retain the attacking trio that started against Villa last Saturday. Here's the predicted Arsenal lineup:

Raya  
Timber, Kiwior, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly  
Odegaard, Jorginho, Merino,   
Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard

As for Dinamo Zagreb, they will be without sharpshooter striker Bruno Petkovic, who's dealing with a muscle problem, and are also expected to be without Petar Sucic.

Nevertheless, former Ballon d'Or winner Fabio Cannavaro still has a decent squad to field a competitive lineup in his first outing as the Croatian side's boss.

That said, Arsenal have the chance to all but secure Champions League qualification tonight at the Emirates Stadium. Let's take it.