Arsenal effectively secured their place in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League with two games to spare on Wednesday night.
The Gunners coasted to a routine 3-0 win over Club Brugge but the Fantasy fallout was more about the players missing or benched than it was the on-field action.
Remember, Mikel Arteta’s side host Wolverhampton Wanderers this weekend – so everything from Free Hit squads to the Gameweek 16 captaincy may be shaped by events in Belgium.
RESULT
| Team | Opponent | Result | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | Club Brugge (a) | 3-0 win | Madueke x2, Martinelli | Zubimendi x2, Lewis-Skelly |
SELECTION/ROTATION
| Team | Changes from GW15’s starting XI | Players who kept their places (mins played) | Mins for other players |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | 5 | Raya (90), Zubimendi (90), Merino (90), White (83), Odegaard (71), Hincapie (63) | Norgaard (90), Lewis-Skelly (90), Martinelli (90), Madueke (71), Gyokeres (62), Jesus (28), Calafiori (27), Nwaneri (19), Saka (19), Salmon (7), Eze (0) |
WHY TIMBER MISSED OUT
The pre-Gameweek 16 chatter started ahead of kick-off, with the absence of Jurrien Timber (£6.5m) from the visitors’ squad.
Riccardo Calafiori (£5.8m), meanwhile, was only among the substitutes. There’s no saving him for the weekend; he’s suspended for one match.
“Kicks” were to blame in both cases.
“They both had issues from the weekend, two really bad kicks. For Jurrien, it was too early. For Riccy, we have to manage if he can do some minutes.” – Mikel Arteta, speaking ahead of kick-off
Jurrien Timber and Riccardo Calafiori join Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba on the injury list 🤕
Midfielder Christian Norgaard starts at centre-back for Arsenal against Club Brugge@tntsports & @discoveryplusUK | @LiamMacdevitt pic.twitter.com/JZL3zbQcPj
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 10, 2025
Regarding Timber, there’s little worry about his involvement against Wolves at this stage. The Dutchman was pictured several times in training ahead of the Club Brugge game, and bear in mind Arteta said that his issue had been picked up in Gameweek 15.
This seemed to smack of a tactical rest for the right-back-cum-centre-half.
EZE + SAKA RESTED – GOOD FOR GAMEWEEK 16?
Talking of rest, perhaps the big winners from Wednesday night were Bukayo Saka (£10.2m) and Eberechi Eze (£7.8m). Both were named among the substitutes in the Jan Breydelstadion, hinting at starts in Gameweek 16. Saka only came on for the last 20 minutes, with Eze having the night off altogether.
Saka’s breather will have cemented many managers’ decision to skipper the winger against Wolves. Since the teamsheets came out in Belgium, Saka has stretched his lead in the captaincy poll.
Meanwhile, Piero Hincapie (£5.4m) was spared for the final half an hour. With so many injuries at the rear, that did look like Arteta was protecting his one fully fit centre-half.
IS MADUEKE A THREAT TO SAKA?
But hold your horses, there. Didn’t Saka’s main positional rival, Noni Madueke (£6.8m), just score a brace?
That he did, the first of which was a stunner: a driving run from midfield followed by a howitzer from distance, in off the bar. He almost repeated the trick just before half-time but eventually got a second when nodding in Martin Zubimendi‘s (£5.3m) cross from point-blank range after the interval.
Gabriel Martinelli (£6.8m) did his best to emulate Madueke with another superb goal in the second half.
“Unbelievable goal. When you talk about individual quality, individual action, a magic moment, that’s it. A player that is able to pick the ball that far, dribble past people and finish with the quality and the power that he’s done. The same as Martinelli as well, I think at this level you want to win games, you need individual players to step up and to do something different. So, I’m very happy because now we have some players back in the frontline and you can tell how much better we are with them.” – Mikel Arteta on Noni Madueke’s opening goal
Arteta was asked about Madueke pushing Saka for a start on the right wing and, perhaps tellingly in the second quote below, challenged the former to do it “consistently”. Saka is one of Arteta’s most trusted lieutenants, with years of credit in the bank, so one Man of the Match display against a team third in the Belgian league likely isn’t going to force a radical rethink. The occasional rest will come, as in Gameweek 14, but it’ll take a lot to depose Saka as first-choice right-wing option.
“Yes, maintaining the level. They both have different qualities as well and it’s great because we’re going to need them. We are playing every three days and players with that freshness and with that bite in the teeth as well, understanding that they have to perform at that level and this is the standard that we set. It’s something really good.” – Mikel Arteta on whether it helps to have Noni Madueke pushing Bukayo Saka
“It’s about consistency, so any player that plays in the middle, we have the same example. We need to have those standards and play consistently. It’s not a game, it’s two games, three games. It’s ‘Can you do it ten games in a row, every three days?’ And that’s the level that we have to hit.” – Mikel Arteta on if Noni Madueke is “undroppable” and gives him a headache on the right wing
It actually wouldn’t be a surprise to see both players start against Wolves, with Madueke on the left. Leandro Trossard (£6.9m) is on the injury list, while Martinelli seemed to be holding his groin at the end of the Club Brugge game. Eze, meanwhile, may be needed in central midfield after two starts for Martin Odegaard (£7.8m) – who is not long back from injury – already this week.
JESUS MAKES HIS COMEBACK
After a largely anonymous hour-long display from Viktor Gyokeres (£8.8m), Gabriel Jesus (£6.4m) made his comeback as a substitute.
He looked quite lively, too, hitting the bar with one of three efforts in his cameo.
“Yes, and especially if he continues to perform in the manner that he’s doing and the energy that he’s putting in training. I think he brings something else, and I was really happy to see that and for him as well, for his confidence to grow, for his teammates to feel him as well because some of them haven’t played with him. So, Gabby has a really special quality where he suddenly connects everybody around him and that’s something that we as a team need and it is going to make us better.” – Mikel Arteta on if Gabriel Jesus has a part to play in the first team
At the back, it wasn’t wholly convincing stuff from Arsenal, with 18 shots conceded. David Raya (£6.0m) was forced into making seven stops, including a couple of very good ones.
The mitigation is that this was a pretty much entirely second-string defence, sans Messrs Calafiori, Timber, Saliba and Magalhaes. Christian Norgaard (£5.2m) was even at centre-back.
Still, this was probably three-quarters of the backline that will start against Wolves, with Timber to come back in.
Hincapie was filling in for Gabriel in more than one way: he also had a couple of set-piece attempts, one hitting the post and the other cleared off the line.
GOOD FOR GAMEWEEKS 22-24!
Looking way further down the track, Arsenal’s effective qualification – they need a point to be mathematically through but there would have to be a freakish series of results, including a 13-goal swing, for ninth place to catch them now – takes the pressure off Matchdays 7 and 8 in the Champions League.
Arteta can field rotated sides against Inter and, especially, Kairat, with nothing riding on the result.
That should be good news for Gameweeks 22-24, with the two UCL matches taking place on either side of the Manchester United game. Strong XIs beckon domestically.
