Arsenal boss Unai Emery has revealed that Laurent Koscielny will feature against Qarabag in the Europa League on Thursday night.
Koscielny has not made a first-team appearance since suffering an Achilles injury seven months ago, but the Frenchman is now ready for his first senior outing on the season having played a couple of times for the Under-23s.
Emery has admitted that Koscielny will feature in a much-changed side, but the Spaniard has indicated that he will still look to "respect the competition".
At a press conference, the 47-year-old told reporters: "Our first mind in this competition is to be first in the group - which we have done - but we respect this competition and Qarabag.
"Tomorrow our objective is to win, we will give players chance to take responsibility and confidence. We are going to use tomorrow with some different players, with some coming from Under-23s. We also start to play with Laurent Koscielny."
Emery added that he will not consider Koscielny for Sunday's game at Southampton until assessing the centre-back's fitness after Thursday's game at the Emirates Stadium.
Darren Plant
