Seven Arsenal stars to sit out Europa League opener with Cologne after missing training

Arsene Wenger/ Courtesy

• The Gunners welcome Cologne to the Emirates on Thursday night with Arsene Wenger set to ring the changes

Arsene Wenger is resting seven big names for Arsenal's Europa League opener with Cologne.

Petr Cech, Laurent Koscielny, Alexandre Lacazette, Danny Welbeck, Granit Xhaka, Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey all sat out training this morning and will not be involved, according to the Mirror.

/Courtesy

Jack Wilshere trained and is set to start his first game for Arsenal in 13 months.

Alexis Sanchez may also start to boost his match fitness.

The Arsenal absentees will sit out tomorrow to be ready for Sunday's trip to Chelsea.

Arsenal players in training/ courtesy

Per Mertesacker, Theo Walcott and David Ospina are set to be handed some much-needed game time.

A number of youngsters are also expected to be involved at the Emirates, including Reiss Nelson and Joe Willock.

Gunners are battling it out with with FK Crvena Zvezda, BATE and Koln in Group H.