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Arsenal's Premier League campaign is now just over three weeks away from commencing, with Coventry City travelling to the home of the champions for their own milestone match.
The West Midlands club won promotion to the English top flight last season, claiming the Championship title by eleven points, under the stewardship of Chelsea legend Frank Lampard. Their first match back in the big time for 25 years will be away at the team bidding to retain their crown.
A depleted Arsenal returned to Sohba Realty for pre-season training at the start of last week, beginning their preparations for this encounter with Lampard's men. Mikel Arteta only has a handful of his senior players available to him at the moment, but those at the World Cup will slowly make their scattered returns to the fold over the coming weeks.
That said, those who made their way to the latter stages of the international tournament in North America may not be ready in time to feature in the game against the Sky Blues.
With that said, here's a look at how Arsenal could line up for their opening Premier League match of the season.
How Arsenal could line-up against Coventry City
Only 11 senior outfield players returned to training on Monday last week, and this included the likes of Christian Norgaard, Fabio Vieira, Reiss Nelson and Gabriel Jesus, all of whom could be out the door by the time the Coventry clash rolls around.
This highlights how short Arteta currently is on options, so he and his staff may need to accelerate certain players' pre-season training schedules so that he has a greater pool of players to pick from in a few weeks.
In goal, David Raya should be one who makes his way back in time to start against Coventry. The Spaniard may have been a part of his nation's World Cup-winning squad, but he didn't play a minute for La Roja, which should mean his holiday period is just three weeks. This would give him two full weeks of training (and possibly the Community Shield) to prepare for the Coventry match-up.
At right-back, Jurrien Timber is yet to train properly following his injury lay-off. While the Dutchman could be ready in time for the season, fit-again Ben White stands a greater chance of being thrown in from the outset due to his presence in pre-season training from the start.
Gabriel Magalhaes will make his way to the Arsenal camp in Dublin on Sunday, meaning the Brazilian should be ready to feature in the first league match of the new campaign. He'll likely partner Cristhian Mosquera at the heart of Arsenal's defence, with William Saliba recovering from a back injury.
Piero Hincapie is back in the fold, although Arteta may opt for Riccardo Calafiori's superior attacking instincts against a Coventry side likely to sit deep. The Italian has had a full summer off and should be raring to go.
Midfield is an interesting area of contention. Declan Rice, Mikel Merino and Martin Zubimendi may all struggle to make the first match due to their exploits at the World Cup.
Predicting who might start in the middle of the park against the newly promoted side, Myles Lewis-Skelly alongside potential new signing Bruno Guimaraes is the most sensible take. Arsenal are accelerating their move for Guimaraes this week, and if a deal materialises, he should immediately join Arteta's training sessions in Ireland next week.
Martin Odegaard should complete the midfield three, as he'll be back towards the end of next week, giving him two weeks to prepare for the clash. Eberechi Eze will return a week or so after the Norwegian.
On the right, there could be an opportunity for young Max Dowman. Both Bukayo Saka and Noni Madueke went deep in the World Cup with England, meaning Dowman is the most likely option off that side.
Kai Havertz is expected to be favoured over Viktor Gyokeres up front next season, so he'll likely start down the middle. Off the left, while links to Vinicius Junior and Bradley Barcola rumble on, Arsenal have an option ready in their ranks - Christos Tzolis has arrived from Club Brugge and is itching to get going.
Predicted Arsenal line-up vs Coventry City: Raya, White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori, Guimaraes, Lewis-Skelly, Odegaard, Dowman, Havertz, Tzolis.
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