How Arsenal could line up for Premier League opener against Brentford with Thomas Partey one of three players ruled out

The Gunners will be without Thomas Partey, Gabriel Magalhaes and Eddie Nketiah through injury.

On top of that, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli have only recently returned from international duty and may not be match-ready.

Saka, 19, has returned to training following his Euro 2020 heroics with England, while Martinelli, 20, was helping Brazil win gold at the Olympics.

They may start the game on the bench, but Arteta will be frustrated to be missing two of his key men for the game in Partey and Gabriel.

Partey, 28, injured the ligaments in his right ankle during last weekend's friendly with Chelsea, while Gabriel, 23, has an issue with his right knee.

Nketiah, 22, will also be missing after suffering nasty bruising to his right ankle against the Blues.

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But Arsenal will still be able to field a strong-looking XI for their season's curtain-raiser.

Bernd Leno is a certainty to start in goal, with Pablo Mari and £50million signing Ben White also highly likely to begin the game, given Gabriel's injury.

Kieran Tierney should keep new arrival Nuno Tavares out of the team, with Arteta opting for a flat-back-four in a 4-2-3-1 formation.