Sky Sports pundit Charlie Nicholas believes both Nicolas Pepe and Hector Bellerin should be dropped for Thursday’s Europa League game against Olympiakos.

Despite having no Premier League match next weekend due to Manchester City’s participation in the Carabao Cup final, Nicholas has called on head coach Mikel Arteta to make a number of changes to the starting eleven which lined up against Everton on Sunday:

“Joe Willock and Alexandre Lacazette will come in I think. You have to keep Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in for his goals. Will Nicolas Pepe get another run? Probably. Does he deserve it? Probably not. I would probably look at Gabriel Martinelli.”

“The game against Manchester City has been postponed as they are in the Carabao Cup final, which means Arsenal can go at it and get into the last 16. You can still see the mess at the back, but Arteta will change things again. Sokratis Papastathopoulos may come in, while Hector Bellerin may drop out.”

Pepe got his eighth assist of the season for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang‘s winner versus the Toffees, and while bringing in Martinelli would not be a bad shout, it would be harsh to drop the Ivorian.

Replacing Bellerin for Sokratis would also not make a lot of sense. The Greek international may be better defensively, but he is not going to offer much going forward, and Arteta will likely want his side to hammer home their first-leg advantage with a comprehensive win at the Emirates. With the City game being postponed, there would seem to be no need to make wholesale changes.