Fabio Vieira is set to make his first appearance in an Arsenal shirt tonight, in an u21 outing against Swansea’s u23’s, according to Simon Collings of the Evening Standard.
The Gunners faithful have been starved of seeing their Portuguese starlet so far this season, with the former Porto man arriving at the club injured.
However, he joins the club highly rated, with many speculating he is the heir to the no.8 role occupied currently by Granit Xhaka.
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It won’t just be the talismanic midfielder making an appearance against Swansea’s u23 side, according to Collings.
Smith Rowe and Cedric are also set to get minutes this evening.
The former has had a tumultuous time in recent months with injuries, an issue which continued into Arsenal’s spectacular pre-season.
A luxury Arteta now has in the tantalising form of Gabriel Martinelli, meaning that the Gunners no.10 can be eased back into first team action.
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As for Cedric, the veteran full-back has seen himself slip down the pecking order in recent times, with both Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu preferred as right back options.
It remains to be seen how many minutes the trio will get, however, it’s hard to envisage they will receive the full allocation of minutes with Bournemouth on the horizon this Saturday.
Coming off the back of a hard-fought 3-2 victory against West Ham in their last game, the young guns will be hopeful of continuing their fine form.
Marquinhos is also likely to start for the young team, a 19-year-old winger who joined the club from Sao Paulo this summer.
The young Brazilian has scored three goals in his first two games for the u21s, also bagging an assist.
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He will hope to make it into the first team for the start of the Europa League campaign later this year.
Having three high level pro’s in the ranks for their game tonight will only raise their levels further, a prospect exciting for any fans tuning in.
Thankfully for Arsenal fans, the game is free to watch, being streamed live on Arsenal.com from 7pm this evening.
Topics: Arsenal, Mikel Arteta, Fabio Vieira, Emile Smith-Rowe
Jake Lennard