Olivier Giroud looks set for his first start of the season when Arsenal take on Ludogorets in the Champions League on Tuesday, while Hector Bellerin was among four players who were left behind for the trip to Bulgaria.
Manager Arsene Wenger said Bellerin, fellow full-back Nacho Monreal, midfielder Santi Cazorla and forward Theo Walcott all stayed home to recover from minor injuries ahead of Sunday's crucial North London Derby against Tottenham.
Monreal, Cazorla and Walcott also missed Saturday's win over Sunderland in the Premier League, while Bellerin has played every minute of Arsenal's Premier League and Champions League campaigns so far.
"Some of them being very close, like Walcott, Bellerin had a little incident in the last minute of training so they are not here," Wenger said.
Giroud netted a brace against Sunderland after coming on as a substitute, his first league appearance since recovering from a toe injury he suffered in September. That problem came after he needed time to get back to full match fitness following Euro 2016, and the Frenchman has seen Alexis Sanchez shine as a centre-forward in his absence.
However, Wenger brought Giroud to Monday's news conference in Bulgaria, indicating that he's likely to start up front.
"I'm pleased to come back now," Giroud said. "I wasn't fit enough to play after the Euros and had an annoying injury."
Sanchez's success has led many to question whether Giroud can win his place back even when fit, though the Frenchman showed he has something to offer as well by netting a brace in Saturday's 4-1 win over Sunderland after coming on a second-half substitute.
And Giroud insisted there is room enough for both of them in the Arsenal lineup.
"In every big club you have a lot of good strikers with different qualities," Giroud said. "We can play together, he can play up front and I can as well. The team has played very well at the start of the season but it's cyclic and I hope to come back by working hard in training. I'm happy as long as we win. We have a very good team cohesion and I'm not questioning myself too much. I'm just focused on the team."
Wenger said on Friday he would have to move Sanchez back onto the wing when Giroud is on the pitch, but seemed to change his tune after the Sunderland game when he said he could deploy both up front in a 4-4-2 system.
Asked what he needs to do to win his starting job back, Giroud said: "I just need to play and play more and, in training, show that I'm in good form. That's what I tried to bring to the team when I came on against Sunderland. I tried to help the team get back in the game because it was 1-1 and we needed the win, so fortunately I was in the right position to finish.
"I feel good on the pitch you know, my injury is now behind me and I want to work now. I want to focus on the next stage of the Champions League and another big game on Sunday (against Tottenham). I'm just concentrating on what I have to do on the pitch and my time will come."
Bellerin's absence could mean Carl Jenkinson will make his second start of the season after making his injury comeback in the EFL Cup last week.
Arsenal beat Ludogorets 6-0 at home in the previous round and should be confident of a victory even without some of their regular starters. The Gunners are top of Group A on goal difference ahead of Paris Saint-Germain, and will need another strong performance to maintain that edge.
"Yes, [winning the group] is our prime target. But we must do it step by step," Wenger said. "In the last years we have paid the price of being second as we met teams like Barcelona and Bayern Munich in the first knockout stage.
"It is very important for us to win tomorrow otherwise we may find ourselves in difficult situation."