Arsenal predicted XI v Coventry: New signing left out, Rice benched, Gyokeres or Havertz? | OneFootball

The Premier League returns on Friday night when champions Arsenal host newly-promoted Coventry City.

The Gunners have shown ambition to ‘attack the title’ with the summer additions of Bruno Guimaraes for £75million, Piero Hincapie for £35million and Christos Tzolis for £34million, with Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa and another attacker expected to follow.

Mikel Arteta has some big decisions to make regarding his strongest XI for the new season, and it will be hard to resist going all out for victory on matchday one. However, we do think there are some players who need to be managed, which is why our predicted XI does not include Declan Rice…

GK: David Raya

Raya exerted more energy celebrating Spain’s World Cup win than during the tournament, having sat on the bench throughout his nation’s triumph as Unai Simon barely put a foot (or hand) wrong.

He is nice and rested and played in the Community Shield, which means he is more than ready to start in the champions’ Premier League opener against Frank Lampard’s men.

RB: Ben White

White finished last season in the Arsenal starting XI before a knee injury unfortunately ruled him out of the final two league games and the World Cup, having just got himself back into the England fold under Thomas Tuchel.

The right-back is back fit and looked very impressive in the emphatic Community Shield win over Manchester City.

With Jurrien Timber still managing a groin problem, White will start on matchday one and remain Mikel Arteta’s first-choice right-back until Timber is back. If he doesn’t deserve to be dropped for the Dutchman, he should stay in the team even longer.

CB: Cristhian Mosquera

William Saliba is not available after hurting his back at the World Cup, and that means Mosquera will partner Gabriel against Coventry – spoiler alert, but also hardly a spoiler – just as he did in the 3-0 win over Man City last Sunday.

Mosquera is a confident young defender and a very capable replacement for Saliba.

CB: Gabriel Magalhaes

Arsenal’s main man at the back is a shoo-in for the Premier League curtain-raiser.

LB: Riccardo Calafiori

It will be between Calafiori and new permanent signing Piero Hincapie for the left-back spot this season, just as it was last season when the latter was on loan from Bayer Leverkusen.

When both players are fit, Calafiori is Arteta’s preferred option, but his injury proneness means Hincapie will play a lot of football again this season, especially with Saliba out and both left-backs naturally capable of playing centrally.

DM: Myles Lewis-Skelly

Arteta is not short of options in midfield, and the previously undroppable Martin Zubimendi is now very much behind young Lewis-Skelly in the pecking order.

After a strong end to 2025-26, which resulted in Lewis-Skelly starting in the Premier League title race run-in and Champions League final, the 19-year-old was superb in the Community Shield, providing a wonderful assist for Calafiori’s opening goal inside 24 seconds.

That display has essentially confirmed that Lewis-Skelly will start the new season in the No.6 role, unless Arteta is planning to play Declan Rice or Bruno Guimaraes deeper.

CM: Martin Odegaard

Captain fantastic proved his worth last weekend after a very strong World Cup showing as Norway’s skipper. If Arsenal get that version of Odegaard this campaign, we might see the playmaker competing for the biggest individual prizes in the country come next May.

We’re excited to see if Odegaard can improve on his Arsenal performances over the last two years, because he does need to step it up a level to ensure he remains a regular starter over Eberechi Eze.

CM: Bruno Guimaraes

Arsenal’s newest signing will hope to keep his place in the starting XI, and we think he will do just that at the expense of Declan Rice.

Rice had a long ol’ season and would have appreciated his summer holiday more than any before in his life.

He really needed it and will be back feeling refreshed, but his minutes should be managed at this stage of the season.

The signing of Guimaraes allows Arteta to take him out of the firing line, though we are aware the Arsenal boss cannot take Coventry lightly.

RW: Bukayo Saka

Rice might be given a rest, but Saka, who might even need it more, will not. That is not a slight on Noni Madueke, though the drop-off from Saka to Madueke is steeper than Rice to Guimaraes and Odegaard.

Arteta won’t want to take too many chances against a side with nothing to lose, everything to gain and everyone to prove wrong.

This is an important season for Saka after a campaign riddled with injury and fitness issues, and he will want to start strongly to gain some much-needed momentum.

LW: Christos Tzolis

Very impressive against Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City, Tzolis notched two assists, becoming the first player since David Beckham 30 years ago to assist twice in the Community Shield.

It’s between Gabriel Martinelli and Tzolis for the left-wing spot, and after the former was left out completely last weekend, it’s obviously going to be Tzolis against the Sky Blues.

ST: Kai Havertz

Viktor Gyokeres is Coventry’s record sale, but we don’t expect the Swede to start against the newly promoted side.

Having started against City last week, Havertz should start again on Friday night, and that might work better than Gyokeres if Coventry show up and play a deep block. Gyokeres’ higher position could push the defence even further back, while having Havertz drop deep to get involved in the overall play could help unlock what should be a stubborn backline.