• Sánchez, Özil and Lacazette among those to sit out Europa League trip • Nelson, Mertesacker, Giroud and Walcott likely to start in Belarus

The reality of an uncomfortably compressed schedule this week has prompted Arsène Wenger to leave a host of first team players in London as the best of the rest travel to Belarus for a Europa League encounter against Bate Borisov.

The squad selected suggests Sunday’s Premier League match against Brighton is being prioritised. Alexis Sánchez, Mesut Özil, Alexandre Lacazette, Aaron Ramsey, Granit Xhaka, Laurent Koscielny and Héctor Bellerín are among those free to watch the game from the comfort of their homes, feet up, with no extra air miles and bleary-eyed overnight travel home to contend with during a busy month.

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Wenger is confident he has brought enough know-how and quality to earn a positive result. There was always likely to be a different composition to the Europa League squad but the overall feel of the travelling party is more Carabao Cup than Champions League. It brings another opportunity for some of the youngsters trying to make an impression, and Reiss Nelson, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and the teenage midfielder Joe Willock are all likely to figure with a cluster of other youngsters on the bench.

Wenger expects leadership to come from members of the first-team squad who at the moment tend to be on the fringe when it comes to the preferred Premier League starting lineup. There will be game time for experienced heads led by Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Per Mertesacker, and another opportunity for Jack Wilshere to continue his recent progress. Although Arsenal have got away with these mixed teams in the cup games so far this season, beating Cologne and Doncaster Rovers, there are moments when the defensive blend looks questionable – particularly without natural wing-backs – so that will be an area the Belarusians will look to exploit.

Bate Borisov, like Arsenal, have become accustomed to life in the Champions League – they made the group stages in five out of the past eight seasons – but are keen to make an impression in the Europa League. They opened the campaign with a 1-1 draw at Red Star Belgrade. Unusually, Bate are not actually top of their domestic league at the moment which is a surprise for a club who have completely dominated their nation’s football, having won the title in Belarus for 11 consecutive seasons.

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This Europa League fixture does at least come between two home matches for Arsenal, even if the timings on either side are particularly unhelpful. Wenger stressed that his team selection has been impacted by the fact they played West Brom on Monday evening and will host Brighton on Sunday morning – the two worst possible slots in terms of preparation and recovery for an overseas trek.

Arsenal will return to London directly after the game in Borisov, the ground situated deep in a forest which is a good hour’s travel outside of the capital, Minsk. The lesser lights are challenged to show what they can do without a cluster of big guns.

Probable team: (3-4-3): Ospina; Holding, Mertesacker, Monreal; Nelson, Wilshere, Elneny, Maitland-Niles; Walcott, Giroud, Akpom