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Arsenal team news: Predicted 3-4-2-1 line up to face Valencia – Four out, Ozil latest
ARSENAL could have Mesut Ozil available for their Europa League semi-final first leg against Valencia at the Emirates tonight (8pm).
The German midfielder has been struggling with a bruised foot and missed the 3-0 defeat to Leicester last time out.
However, Ozil was one of several first-team players who returned to training on Wednesday after injury.
And now manager Unai Emery must decide whether to start the playmaker against Valencia as he looks to halt a slump of three consecutive defeats.
Emery is expected to return to the three-man defence which comfortably shut out Napoli in the quarter-finals, having deployed a back four against the Foxes.
And the Spaniard could have Nacho Montreal available again after a calf injury which kept the left-sided defender out at the weekend.
Monreal was spotted training at London Colney yesterday and should slot in alongside the returning Laurent Koscielny in central defence.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos is expected to retain his spot so Shkodran Mustafi is most likely to drop to the bench.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles was sent off against Leicester and will serve a domestic suspension so is almost certain to start at wingback against Valencia.
Sead Kolasinac will line up on the opposite flank while Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira are expected to start in midfield and Petr Cech will continue in goal.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi will look to start in advanced roles with Aaron Ramsey ruled out, although Ozil is also in contention to play as a No 10.
Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have struggled for goals in recent weeks and one of the duo could drop to the bench if Emery opts for a conservative approach.
Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin and Danny Welbeck remain sidelined with long-term injuries and will not feature, although the former has returned to light training.
Arsenal predicted line-up vs Valencia – Europa League
(3-4-2-1): Cech; Sokratis, Koscielny, Monreal; Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Torreira, Kolasinac; Ozil, Mkhitaryan; Lacazette