Arsenal welcomed Christos Tzolis back from injury for their visit to Liverpool in a huge boost to Mikel Arteta.

Tzolis had been sidelined for six games after suffering a hamstring injury on international duty at the start of last month, limiting Arteta’s options at left-wing.

Arsenal’s attacking selection headache was then exacerbated by Bukayo Saka’s injury against Bayern Munich, which will leave him out for up to eight weeks, before Max Dowman was shown a straight red card in their humiliating Carabao Cup exit to League Two side Fleetwood to rule him out for the next three games.

Tzolis was deemed fit enough to start at Anfield on Sunday afternoon to make a timely return to the fold, though Arteta suggested that he was forced to throw the Greek international back into the starting line-up sooner than he would have liked.

"We had some other issues after Tuesday,” Arteta told Sky Sports.

“We need to be smart how we manage minutes today. The conditions and the context forced me to make some decisions."

For Liverpool, Dominik Szoboszlai returned to the squad after a spell out with a thigh injury, having missed four of the last five games.

Andoni Iraola was left to regret starting the Hungarian two weeks ago at Brentford, with Szoboszlai being forced off before half-time after suffering a recurrence of his injury, so opted to place him on the bench.

"He was desperate to start,” Iraola said. “After the Brentford game we probably went too early. We have been a bit more cautious and he will have to go through the process today he probably plays in the second half."