football.london reporters pick their Arsenal starting XIs for Wednesday night's crunch trip to Wolves in the Premier League
17:00, 17 Feb 2026
Arsenal travel to Wolves on Wednesday evening
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Arsenal could unleash Bukayo Saka, Viktor Gyokeres and Eberechi Eze in the same attack at Wolves
Arsenal have the chance to brush the Premier League title noise aside when they travel to Molineux tomorrow night.
Much was made of the draw at Brentford but victory against Wolves would see the Gunners extend their lead at the top over Manchester City to seven points.
Psychologically, that would be a nice cushion heading into the North London Derby against Tottenham on Sunday.
In positive news, Mikel Arteta has confirmed Riccardo Calafiori and Ben White have both avoided injury following the 4-0 FA Cup win over Wigan, though Kai Havertz and captain Martin Odegaard won't be fit to play in the Black Country.
football.london 's Chief Arsenal reporter Tom Canton and Ryan Taylor have had their stab at picking Arsenal's starting XI for the contest.
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Tom Canton - Chief Arsenal reporter
Now, after the game against Wigan and hearing Mikel Arteta speak on Bukayo Saka’s game, I had thought there was a good chance we might see this again.
After the pre-Wolves press conference, I am less convinced, that said I want to manifest this back into existence.
This will then see Eberechi Eze’s role come into question, but here I would push the attacking midfielder out wide and rest Trossard for the derby to keep Eze in. Elsewhere the team pretty much picks itself.
The back four returns to its usual setup, while Viktor Gyokeres comes in at centre-forward. This might be on paper an easy game for Arsenal, but the pressure is on to deliver a win because anything else is truly disastrous. Canton’s Arsenal XI vs Wolves: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Zubimendi, Rice, Saka; Madueke, Gyokeres, Eze
Noni Madueke and Bukayo Saka
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Tom Canton wants to see Bukayo Saka (right) start as Arsenal's No.10 again vs Wolves(Image: (Photo by Javier Garcia/Shutterstock))
Ryan Taylor
This is a massive game for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta needs to field his strongest possible line-up.
In my opinion, sentiment has to go out of the window and even though Noni Madueke has scored twice in his past two matches, I think Bukayo Saka should start ahead of him on the right.
The back five picks itself; David Raya, Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Piero Hincapie. I'm picking Eberechi Eze in midfield alongside Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice as I think last week's poor showing at Brentford was just a blip.
Wolves will sit back and you need Eze's dribbling and long-shot abilities against low blocks, even though he struggled against the Bees.
I get the clamour for Saka to start as a No.10 but I don't think this is a game for that. Arsenal need quality in wide areas and Saka can provide creativity from the right and he's a major threat when he cuts inside.
Leandro Trossard and Viktor Gyokeres complete the attack for me; though Gabriel Martinelli will be a valuable asset from the bench against tired legs. Taylor's Arsenal XI vs Wolves: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Zubimendi, Rice, Eze; Saka, Gyokeres, Trossard
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