Arsenal are being forced to name a strong defence against Brentford in their Carabao Cup encounter due a deepening injury crisis.
Arsenal will not be able to rest all of their stars for the Carabao Cup clash with Brentford on Wednesday due to a deepening injury crisis at the Emirates.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos is the latest defender to pick up an injury, joining Laurent Koscielny, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Carl Jenkinson in the treatment room.Sead Kolasinac has returned to training but the midweek game will come too soon for him, forcing Nacho Monreal to continue in his role at left-back.
Shkodran Mustafi and Rob Holding are likely to start at the heart of the Arsenal defence with only Hector Bellerin dropped for a rest. Stephan Lichtsteiner will be handed a chance to impress after a frustrating start to life at the Emirates.
Sokratis picked up a knock during the win over Everton and is not expected to be risked against Brentford.
Further up the pitch, Unai Emery is set to rotate his squad with Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mesut Ozil to be rested.Teenage duo Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith-Rowe could be handed chances to shine alongside Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi.
Predicted Arsenal line-up vs Brentford
(4-2-3-1) Leno; Lichtsteiner, Mustafi, Holding, Monreal; Guendouzi, Elneny; Welbeck, Smith-Rowe, Iwobi; Nketiah.
