Arsenal team news: Özil, Ramsey out of Östersunds tie

Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Özil will miss Thursday’s second leg against Östersunds, with Ramsey returning to training this week following a groin issue and Özil having been ill earlier in the week. Özil will be available to start Sunday’s Carabao Cup final against Manchester City, while Ramsey could be available, depending on how he continues to do in training.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who is cup tied for the League Cup, will start tomorrow’s match, as will Danny Welbeck, currently Arsenal’s only senior striker in the Europa League, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang cup tied and Alexandre Lacazette injured. Lacazette’s recovery from knee surgery, though, is going well, and there’s hope he may recover in four weeks. David Ospina will play each of the next two games.

With Arsenal 3-0 up against Östersunds, a fair amount of rotation could be expected to happen with the Carabao Cup final only two days later. Arsène Wenger, though, is wary of saying the tie is over, and a far more likely team selection is a mixed one, with players such as Rob Holding and potentially Reiss Nelson being introduced to the side in place of one or two senior players, but not full-on rotation.