The Champions League play-off comes at a bad time for Arsenal, as Arsene Wenger is still unsure how his team will look like this season.

It is only a matter of time before Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri leave the club, so it is little wonder Arsene Wenger is desperately looking for new signings.

Despite picking up a red card on his debut against Newcastle, Gervinho has shown a lot of potential already and he looks like a great addition to Arsenal’s attack.

Carl Jenkinson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will need some time before being able to challenge for starting places, but the good thing is that Theo Walcott and Thomas Vermaelen are finally fit to play.

The England international is expected to replace Andrei Arshavin in the starting line-up, and that is likely to be the only change to the side that were held to a goalless draw at St James Park, seeing that Wilshire and Diaby remain sidelined.

In spite of all the problems that Arsenal have experienced of late, the Gunners have got to be considered favourites in this clash, with 888Sport paying 1.50 (1/2) on home win.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Szczesny – Sagna, Koscielny, Vermaelen, Gibbs – Rosicky, Song, Ramsey – Walcott, Van Persie, Gervinho.

Led by master tactician Francesco Guidolin and boasting one of the best attacking partnerships in world football, Udinese largely impressed last season and deservedly clinched Champions League berth.

The club management then faced a tough task of keeping hold of their star players as big European clubs come calling and they couldn’t prevent Alexis Sanchez, Gokhan Inler and Cristian Zapata from leaving the club.

The Zebrette continued their policy of not spending too much money on new players and only brought several unproven footballers, so they clearly lack some quality to match a side like Arsenal.

Udinese are likely to adopt a cautious approach at the Emirates, but there are no doubts that they will be looking to hit the hosts on the break, so odds of 1.80 (4/5) offered by Sportingbet on Udinese to score do look tempting.

Kwadwo Asamoah is likely to miss out through injury, while Maurizio Domizzi is doubtful with a muscle problem.

Probable starting line-up (4-4-1-1): Handanovic – Basta, Ekstrand, Danilo, Domizzi – Isla, Pinzi, Badu, Armero – Abdi – Di Natale.