Arsenal kick-off their bid to make amends last season's Europa League final heartache on Thursday with their toughest Group F test against Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt.

The Gunners are looking to go one better this time around after falling to a 4-1 defeat against Chelsea in the Baku showpiece in May.

They have been handed a relatively kind draw - Standard Liege of Belgium and Vitoria of Portugal also feature - but this is a tricky start against the side who finished seventh in the German top flight last season.

Eintracht have had to come through three rounds of qualifying to reach this stage, starting their campaign back in July.

But they went all the way to the semifinals last term and were only knocked out by Chelsea on penalties.

They have, however, lost instrumental strikers Luka Jovic and Sebastien Haller, who joined Real Madrid and West Ham United respectively. The pair bagged 47 goals between them in 2018/19.

Highly-rated attacker Ante Rebic has also departed on loan.

Experienced frontman Bas Dost has come in as a replacement alongside Andre Silva, on loan from AC Milan.

It has been a mixed start to their domestic campaign, with two wins and two defeats on the board after four matches.

Arsenal, meanwhile, are looking to issue a response after surrendering a two-goal lead away at bottom-of-the-table Watford last time out.

Team news

This game could come too soon for Arsenal's returning defensive trio Hector Bellerin, Kieran Tierney and Konstantinos Mavropanos, who need to build their fitness. They are all back in full training, but Unai Emery might think it best to introduce them from the bench.

Rob Holding could get his first minutes since recovering from a long-term layoff, but Alexandre Lacazette is likely to remain sidelined by an ankle problem.

Mesut Ozil and Sokratis have been left out of the travelling squad.

Emery is expected to rotate over the course of the group stage in a bid to keep his players fresh and offer opportunities to those on the fringes.

Eintracht, meanwhile, are without defender Marco Russ (Achilles), midfielders Jonathan de Guzman (muscle) and Sebastian Rode (knee) and attacker Mijat Gacinovic (adductor). 

They will also be missing a number of eligible players, including defensive midfielder Lucas Torro and back-up goalkeeper Felix Wiedwald.

Predicted line-ups

Eintracht (3-4-1-2): Trapp; Abraham, Hasebe, Hinterreger; Da Costa, Chandler, Sow, Kostic; Kamada; Paciencia, Dost.

Arsenal (4-3-3): Leno; Maitland-Niles, Chambers, Holding, Kolasinac; Torreira, Guendouzi, Willock; Pepe, Aubameyang, Nelson

Key battles

Reiss Nelson vs Danny Da Costa

Nelson is likely to get a start on Thursday after the getting nod in the Gunners' early league games. He has valuable experience of facing German opposition following his impressive loan spell at Hoffenheim last season.

Right wing back Da Costa is an ever-present in Adi Hutter's team and earned a place in the Europa League Squad of the Season for 2018/19 after shining on the continental stage.

Nelson scored against his next opponents last October but it was not enough to prevent them falling to a 2-1 defeat.

It would be fascinating to see which of the two came out on top.

Rob Holding vs Bas Dost/Andre Silva

Arsenal fans will be hopeful that Holding can quickly regain his rhythm and slot into the side amid the early struggles of David Luiz and Sokratis in the heart of defence.

He could be forgiven one or two slight signs of rustiness if indeed he does start, but will be expected to at least begin to make his case for a starting role.

The Englishman could well come up against Dost, a powerful 6"5 frontman - that kind that so often causes Arsenal problems. Silva is a less imposing, more youthful presence but does boast an impressive record of eight goals in 14 European outings.

Both forwards will want to truly announce themselves at their new club before the watching world.