Mikel Arteta to make massive Declan Rice decision after horrible Arsenal suspension blow vs PSG

Mikel Arteta will go into the biggest game of his Arsenal tenure against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night with a selection headache he could really do without.

The Gunners meet PSG in the semi-final of the Champions League this week, with the first-leg taking place at the Emirates Stadium and second-leg next week in Paris.

After knocking out European champions Real Madrid 5-1 in the quarter-final stage, Arsenal take on the French giants for a place in the final to face one of Barcelona or Inter Milan. After missing out on the Premier League, Europe's biggest prize remains within touching distance.

However, despite having a full weekend to prepare for the visit of Luis Enrique's side, Arteta is faced with a selection dilemma forced upon him. Gabriel Magalhaes, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz will all miss the tie through injury, but it's a suspension to Thomas Partey that comes at the worst-possible time.

The midfielder will miss the first-leg after picking up his third yellow card of the Champions League season late in the second-leg against Real Madrid. Partey was booked for a pointless altercation with Dani Ceballos with five minutes to go with the tie all-but concluded.

It means Arteta will have to name a different midfield trio to the one that outclassed Jude Bellingham and co in the previous round. Partey joined Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice in the middle of the park, forming a formidable partnership.

Whatever Arteta decides to do is almost certain to play a huge part in how the tie goes. PSG's midfield trio of Joao Neves, Vitinha and Fabian Ruiz have been instrumental in their wins over Liverpool and Aston Villa meaning the Gunners are going to need to be at their very best.

There's a couple of options available but the solution may not be as straightforward. The straightforward avenue would be to move Rice into the No.6, bring Mikel Merino back into midfield and start Leandro Trossard at centre-forward.

Both Rice and Merino were excellent against Madrid and it would be brave to change their role in such a big game. Elsewhere, Arteta has three decisions he can make to fill the void and still be solid on all fronts.

Myles Lewis-Skelly, who has been superb at left-back, demonstrated his ability to play in the centre of midfield against Madrid with his inverted full-back positioning. The academy graduate's move into midfield would leave the left-back roll vacant, step forward Jurrien Timber.

The Dutchman has played at right-back in recent weeks but Ben White's return from injury means switching Timber to left-back would allow White to start. Against Desire Doue, Arsenal need an excellent defender and White is that.

Riccardo Calafiori has a shout to start but, using this season as a case study, Timber is a better defender and Arteta needs an excellent 1v1 player to stop Khvicha Kvaratskhelia down the right.

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