Key events
1 min Peep peep! Arsenal kick off from left to right.
“It’s good to see Rob Holding back in the starting lineup,” says Charles Antaki. “He’s one of those players Arsenal have featured over the years who look innocent, freshfaced to the point of near goofiness – you might make a case also for the younger Theo Walcott and even maybe Emmanuel Eboué before it all went horribly wrong – but I imagine that if you ever took them on at anything competitive they would take a devilish delight at ruthlessly thrashing you.
“Anyway, good luck to him tonight; he’s not liable to break into the first team again, at least not for league games, so this is probably as good as it’s going to get.”
“Fun fact,” says Alexander Ediassen. “Bodø/Glimt midfielder Hugo Vetlesen is a lifelong Arsenal fan, and was at the Emirates as a 12-year-old seeing a game.”
I wonder if he’ll celebrate if he scores.
“Hi Rob,” says Peter Oh. “How do you say the name of the Norwegian club? ‘Bodo and or Glimt’? And which version of the home team will show up today? The Invincibles/Oh Arsenal?”
Full time: FC Zurich 1-5 PSV Eindhoven
The other game in this group was an early kick-off, and PSV ran riot in Zurich. They were 5-0 up after 55 minutes before easing off. This is how Group A looks as a result.
Team news
Mikel Arteta picks the same XI that won 2-1 away to FC Zurich last month. That includes three players who started the victory over Spurs at the weekend: Gabriel, Gabriel Martinelli and Granit Xhaka.
Arsenal (4-1-2-3) Turner; Tomiyasu, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney; Sambi Lokonga; Fabio Vieira, Xhaka; Marquinhos, Nketiah, Martinelli.
Substitutes: Ramsdale, Hein, White, Partey, Saka, Odegaard, Jesus, Saliba, Cedric, Nelson, Cirjan, Smith.
Bodo/Glimt (4-1-2-3) Halkin; Wembangomo, Lode, Moe, Sampsted; Berg; Vetlesen, Saltnes; Mugisha, Espejord, Pellegrino.
Substitutes: Faye Lund, Sery, Hoibraten, Amundsen, Gronbaek, Solbakken, Konradsen, Hagen, Sorli, Zugelj, Salvesen.
Referee Harm Osmers (Germany)
Preamble
Hello, good evening and welcome to live coverage of the Europa League match between Arsenal and Bodo/Glimt at the Emirates. It’s another test/demonstration of Arsenal’s strength in depth, which looks far better than it did when they blew up at the end of last season. They play Liverpool on Sunday, so Mikel Arteta has rested eight of his Premier League-leading XI. The second string were good enough to beat FC Zurich in the opening game, and a win tonight would put Arsenal top of Group A with a game in hand on a couple of teams.
Bodo/Glimt are useful opponents, who famously beat Roma 6-1 in the group stages last season, but almost all of their recent success in Europe has been at home. Everyone at the Emirates is high on life right now, and Arsenal will expect to win – even with a reserve side.
Kick off 8pm.
