Preview: Besiktas vs. Arsenal

Arsenal will begin their Champions League campaign on Tuesday when they travel to Turkey to face Besiktas in the first leg of their qualifying round tie.

The Gunners could be without defender Kieran Gibbs for the trip as he was forced off with an apparent hamstring injury in their 2-1 win over Crystal Palace on the opening day of the new Premier League season.

Arsene Wenger has also confirmed that German internationals Mesut Ozil, Per Mertesacker and Lukas Podolski will not return before the team's trip to Everton next weekend as they continue their post-World Cup breaks.

Meanwhile, the home side will have former Chelsea striker Demba Ba available to face the club that had previously been linked with a move for the Senegal international, following his move to Turkey last month.

Slaven Bilic will also look to Kerim Frei to cause problems for the Premier League side after he played a big role in their victory over Feyenoord in the previous round.

Besiktas have not yet begun their domestic campaign, but they were beaten by Wigan Athletic in a pre-season friendly earlier in the summer.

This will be the first competitive meeting between the two clubs, with the winner over the two legs going into the draw for the group stage of the tournament.

Recent form

Besiktas: LWW

Arsenal: WLWLWW

Possible starting lineups

Besiktas: Zengen; Kurtulus, Sahan, Pektemek, Hutchinson; Ozyakup, Uysal, Frei, Gulu, Ramon; Ba

Arsenal: Szczesny; Monreal, Debuchy, Chambers, Koscielny; Arteta, Sanchez, Ramsey, Rosicky Campbell; Giroud

Sports Mole says: 1-2