Alexandre Lacazette will lead the line for Arsenal in Sunday’s Community Shield against Chelsea, but there is no space for Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez while Blues manager Antonio Conte has made the bold decision to bench summer signing Alvaro Morata in favour of Michy Batshuayi.
Arsene Wenger has opted for a 3-4-3 formation, with Lacazette playing as centre forward and the Frenchman will have Alex Iwobi and Danny Welbeck for company. Hector Bellerin and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are the wing-backs for the tie at Wembley, with Mohamed Elneny and Granit Xhakha anchoring the midfield. Rob Holding and Nacho Monreal support Per Mertesacker in a three-man defence with Petr Cech between the sticks.
Surprisingly, Sanchez and Ozil don’t feature on the bench and Wenger’s senior attacking options are Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott.
Alvaro Morata, Chelsea’s record signing, is on the bench and will be watching the likes of Pedro and Willian give Batshuayi support. Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses are the preferred wing-backs in the Blues's 3-4-3 system and N’Golo Kante partners with former Arsenal man Cesc Fabregas in midfield. Gary Cahill, David Luis and Cesar Azpilicueta line up in defence with Thibaut Courtois Chelsea’s goalkeeper for the crunch tie.
Giving Morata company in the dugout will be fellow summer signing Antonio Rudiger and the Blues seem a little short on attacking options as well, with star winger Eden Hazard out injured.
Teams
Arsenal: Cech, Holding, Mertesacker (c), Monreal, Bellerin, Xhaka, Elneny, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Welbeck, Lacazette, Iwobi.
Chelsea: Courtois; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill (c); Moses, Fabregas, Kante, Alonso; Willian, Batshuayi, Pedro.
The match kicks off at 2.30 PM GMT (6.30 PM IST).