[Teams] Newcastle vs Arsenal: Confirmed line-ups from St James’ Park

Arsenal will look to make a winning start to the new Premier League season when we take on Newcastle United at St James’ Park this afternoon.

Unai Emery has left all of his summer signings on the bench with David Luiz, Dani Ceballos, Nicolas Pepe and Gabriel Martinelli having to settle for substitute roles today while Kieran Tierney is ruled out through injury.

Calum Chambers starts alongside Sokratis in the middle of the Arsenal defence with Nacho Monreal and Ainsley Maitland-Niles in the full-back positions. Matteo Guendouzi joins Granit Xhaka in midfield while youngster Joe Willock gets a chance to impress.

Reiss Nelson also starts for Arsenal after impressing in pre-season while Henrikh Mkhitaryan lines-up in the attack along with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Alexandre Lacazette is only named on the bench after missing the last two pre-season matches with an ankle injury.

Mesut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac have been left in north London and haven’t made the trip to St James’ Park following fresh security incidents last week. These come after the duo were involved in an attempted carjacking last month.

As for Newcastle, Joelinton makes his debut up front while fellow summer signing Allan Saint-Maximin is named on the bench. Matt Ritchie is passed fit to start in the left wing-back position while Sean Longstaff starts in midfield.

Here are the confirmed line-ups:

Newcastle

Dubravka, Manquillo, Schar, Lascelles, Dummett, Ritchie, Shelvey, Hayden, Longstaff, Almiron, Joelinton.

Subs: Darlow, Clark, Saint-Maximin, Muto, Willems, Krafth, Fernandez.

Arsenal

Leno, Maitland-Niles, Chambers, Sokratis, Monreal, Guendouzi, Xhaka, Willock, Mkhitaryan, Nelson, Aubamyenag.

Subs: Martinez, Luiz, Torreira, Ceballos, Pepe, Martinelli, Lacazette