Arsenal manager Unai Emery has offered a strong intimation that summer recruit Bernd Leno will make his club debut in the Europa League on Thursday.
Leno, 26, joined the Gunners from Bayer Leverkusen over the summer with the expectation of supplanting veteran stopper Petr Cech between the sticks.
However, the £22.5 million signing is yet to start for the club and, instead, he has sat on the bench for their opening five Premier League matches, despite some wayward performances from Cech.
The former Chelsea goalkeeper has produced a number of high-profile errors and struggled to adapt to Emery’s passing philosophy, leading to further questions regarding why Leno is still playing second fiddle.
That may be about to change as Emery has all-but confirmed the German’s starting berth when the club take on Ukrainian side Vorskla Poltava in the Europa League on Thursday.
Speaking after Arsenal’s 2-1 win against Newcastle (via the Mirror), Emery said: “We are going to change and use a lot of players for different competitions, but only thinking about the best performance for us to win on Thursday.
“Every competition for me is about [doing as well as you can] and normally you use a different goalkeeper in those [other] competitions, but it’s about giving [your best] performance.”
The Spaniard also brushed off claims that star striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was angry after being substituted off at St James’ Park, with the marksman yet to pick up where he left off last term.
He added: “It’s normal. I want the players I change or don’t start to be angry, they have ambition to help the team.”
Aubameyang has just one goal to his name this season, but he will be looking to rectify that when his side clash with Vorskla Poltava on Thursday, before turning his attention to a home tie with Everton over the weekend.
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