Evening all, and a poser to begin: are Arsenal a)no longer Arsenal; or b) still the same old Arsenal?

I wonder if playing alongside Coquelin will allow Xhaka to show us a little more than he has so far. He's not played badly or anything, but it's been a fairly gentle arrival into English football for him.

Absolutely unfathomable.

"We have only full-strength teams," says Wenger of his various changes. He wanted to play Giroud because he's a striker who's scoring, but also because they might have to hit some longer balls. He also points out that the 6-0 wasn't really a 6-0 game and it might have been 2-2 at half-time.

It's worth noting that Ludogorets caused Arsenal plenty of problems in the first half at the Emirates. They'd had enough once Arsenal scored at the start of the second half, but as long as it was a game, they were in the game. So, Arsenal might still burn them off with confidence and skill - players playing for their places can make that happen - or they might look disjointed and rusty, given two men who can't be matchfit.

Arsene Wenger, meanwhile, flexes his spindly old biceps by making all manner of changes. Ospina continues in goal, but Bellerin is given a rest and Jenkinson comes in, with Gibbs taking Monreal's usual spot on the other side. Sitting in the midfield are Xhaka and Coquelin, while Ramsey makes his first start since the start of the season and Giroud his first altogether. But in the middle of it all, Mustafi and Koscielny are still there, and so are Ozil and Sanchez.

So, Ludogorets make two changes from these teams' last meeting. In net, Borjan replaces Stoyanov, and Misidjan is left out of the midfield, so Keseru comes in up front and Jonathan Cafu plays wide on the right.

Some teams, then:

Ludogorets: Borjan; Minev, Palomino, Moti, Natanael; Anicet, Dyakov; Jonathan Cafu, Marcelinho, Wanderson; Keseru. Subs: Stoyanov, Cicinho, Sasha, Quixada, Plastun, Lukoki, Misidjan.