Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber will have to wait to make their Arsenal debuts in tonight’s exhibition match against the MLS All-Stars.
The Gunners begin their pre-season tour of the United States with the traditional summer friendly in Washington DC, and there is plenty of intrigue over their starting line-up.
Mikel Arteta had assured fans that £105million capture Rice is not suffering from an injury despite being pictured working away from the group in training earlier this week.
“We just wanted to manage him,” Arsenal boss Arteta said of the England international.
“Obviously a lot has happened to him in the last five or six days. He had a very hectic schedule and he had a few training sessions that went really good, but prior to that, he didn't do much before he joined us.
“So we wanted to just manage him. He trained today with us. He was in good form and he's fine.”
However, both Rice and Timer are named on the bench, along with Kai Havertz who does not make his first start having brought him off the bench for the draw with Nurnberg last week. Martin Odegaard is also among the subs, while Oleksandr Zinchenko is in training but is not involved in the squad.
Leandro Trossard and Fabio Vieira start in an attacking midfield three, with Eddie Nketiah getting his chance to impress up front.
Thomas Partey and Emile Smith Rowe will join the tour next week, ruling them out of this friendly, while Nicolas Pepe, Cedric Soares and Albert Sambi Lokonga have all been left at home.
Starting XI: Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior, Jorginho, Vieira, Trossard, Saka, Nketiah, Jesus
Subs: Runarsson, Hein, Tierney, Tomiyasu, Timber, Holding, Trusty, Odegaard, Rice, Havertz, Martinelli, Marquinhos, Cozier-Duberry, Balogun
Time and date: 1.30am BST on Thursday, July 20, 2023
Venue: Audi Field
