3 non-negotiable starters for Arsenal as 2 drop to the bench against Hull

Arsenal's fixture schedule shows no signs of letting up as Mikel Arteta's men host Hull City at the Emirates on Saturday afternoon, just 72 hours after beating Slavia Prague in the Champions League.

The Gunners survived a late Slavia onslaught at the Fortuna Arena, emerging from the Czech Republic with all three points and their European unbeaten run intact. The Premier League champions were majestic in the first half, but their second-half performance left much to be desired.

Clearly feeling the effects of playing an intense game at Anfield just three days earlier, the North Londoners collapsed in the late stages in Prague. They were ultimately fortunate to return home with the victory.

This lack of energy late on was in spite of Arteta making six changes on the night. The Spaniard continues to rotate heavily game-to-game, but Arsenal's players look to be fatiguing slightly too often.

Several more changes are expected for the visit of the Tigers. With that said, here are three players who must start against Hull and two who must be kept on the sidelines.

Not that Arteta would drop him given the paucity of alternative right-wing options, but Noni Madueke has made himself one of the first names on the teamsheet in recent weeks. The forward was electric on Wednesday night in Prague, following up a respectable display at Anfield.

Max Dowman is still suspended, and Bukayo Saka remains sidelined with a quad injury, but Arteta might still be somewhat tempted to try something unconventional on the right after playing Madueke for 90 minutes in the last two games. He shouldn't.

Myles Lewis-Skelly made a huge impact at Anfield after replacing Bruno Guimaraes. The Hale End graduate gave the Gunners the control they were craving, replacing Guimaraes' aggression with composure in possession.

Instead of being rewarded for this impact with minutes in midweek, Lewis-Skelly was restrained to the bench for the full 90 minutes in the Czech Republic. One can only assume this is because Arteta is keeping the 20-year-old wrapped in cotton wool ahead of Saturday.

Arteta eased concerns over Konsa potentially sustaining an injury after he came off against Slavia by confirming in his press conference on Friday that the defender would be fit to face Hull.

"He’s fine - he was feeling much better today," he said.

"We took him out on Wednesday for a precaution, but yesterday and today he’s been feeling good."

William Saliba is back in the fold, but Arteta shouldn't resort to the Frenchman just yet. Konsa has been outstanding and deserves to keep his place for this clash. After the international break, the fight for minutes at the heart of Arsenal's defence will be on.

Arsenal fans were up in arms about Declan Rice playing 90 minutes on Wednesday night, and rightly so. The Englishman was always going to start, given his importance to the Gunners, but once they stormed into a 2-0 lead, Arteta should've brought him off.

He looked physically exhausted towards the end of the match, and simply cannot go again three days later. Guimaraes and Lewis-Skelly played no minutes against Slavia, and should be more than capable of forming the double pivot in a home game against Hull.

Viktor Gyokeres was excellent against Slavia; there's no denying it. He held the ball up well, he did brilliantly to create Madueke's goal, and he scored an exceptional goal himself.

That said, he still managed just one shot against a pretty bad team. Making out that he's turned a corner because he had a good game against Slavia Prague would be disingenious.

Normal order will be resumed, and he'll return to the bench on Saturday.