England, Tottenham and Arsenal Q&A LIVE: Will Cole Palmer be handed his Three Lions debut this week? Is Douglas Luiz a realistic target? Sami Mokbel answers your questions

SAMI MOKBEL: Luiz has long been on Arsenal’s radar. A player greatly admired by Arteta and sporting director Edu.

They tried and failed to sign him just over 18 months ago and his improvements under Unai Emery at Aston Villa have not gone unnoticed at Arsenal.

The difficulty is, however, that he only recently signed a new five year contract. That gives the power - in terms of price - to Villa. Given Declan Rice left West Ham for Arsenal in the summer for £105million, Villa would want somewhere close to that fee, you’d imagine.

So the key here is how hard Arsenal are willing to go and how hard Luiz would be willing to push to leave for the Emirates.

Arsenal’s hands will be tied due to a tight January budget but there is a willingness to sign a midfielder in the next window.

It’s definitely one to watch - but for a myriad of reasons, it will be a very difficult deal to pull off.

SAMI MOKBEL: I’m not sure Arteta will read too much into those comments. He’s worked with Ramsdale for two-and-a-half seasons now and will know everything there is to know about the goalkeeper’s mentality.

Ramsdale, for the two seasons he has played, has been a massive player for Arsenal. Arteta won’t forget that.

But the Gunners head coach has decided to move on; David Raya is his preferred keeper now. Changing his mind now would effectively see Arteta conceding his decision to switch No 1s has failed.

I can’t see that happening anytime soon, although Ramsdale is set to play against Brentford later this month as Raya would be ineligible to play against his parent club.

SAMI MOKBEL: I think much of the reaction at Arsenal has been to try and quell some of the controversy of the whole episode.

That’s easier said than done, of course, given the Mikel Arteta’s outburst and the subsequent statement from the club effectively backing their manager’s comments.

But from my understanding, there has been a real drive from inside the club to move away from the issue and look at what’s ahead.

The airing of the VAR audio on Tuesday night re-opened the issue for a short while. But now that’s gone, Arsenal would to move away from the fallout of it all.

The ramifications of that 90 minutes at St James’ Park will linger; Arsenal - as our excellent colleague Issan Khan revealed - will make representations to the PGMOL about where they feel officiating has failed them.

Such complaints aren’t uncommon, but it represents how strongly they felt about it all.

SAMI MOKBEL: Arsenal will be there or thereabouts. There’s too much quality in the starting XI for them not to run Man City all the way.

But injuries and suspensions will be key here. With injuries to Martin Odegaard and Thomas Partey in recent weeks, midfield resources have been stretched.

If either William Saliba or Gabriel Magalhaes were to miss a stretch, you’d worry for Arsenal.

If they can keep their best players on the pitch then they’ll run Man City very close.

SAMI MOKBEL: Southgate isn’t one to just hadn’t out instant debuts. He prefers to give new players time to settle in before giving them extensive time on the field.

With that in mind, don’t expect the new trio to start either against Malta on Friday or North Macedonia on Monday.

That said, with qualification already assured and England very likely to overcome both opposition - there maybe scope for debuts over the next five or six days. Palmer and Lewis, in particular, will capture the nation’s imagination.

Both prodigiously talented young footballers; Lewis’ versatility, in particular, suits tournament football ahead of next summer’s Euros.

Southgate is targeting finishing top of the qualification group and will play strong teams in both matches. But depending on how the games develop there will hopefully be an opportunity for Southgate to blood his new-boys.

SAMI MOKBEL: Raheem Sterling’s continued absence is an issue that isn’t going away. His form is much improved, personally I thought he was excellent against Man City on Sunday night.

But look at it from Gareth Southgate’s point of view - who is he supposed to leave out? The competition for places in those wide attacking areas is so fierce that if you miss one squad then you are at risk.

Of course, Sterling’s contribution to Southgate’s reign should probably mean he is afforded special treatment.

It’s clear that the England manager has been lenient with Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips in recent months. It’s tempting to point to Sterling’s decision to fly back to England during the World Cup when his house was burgled as a potential factor here.

But Southgate has continued to publicly insist the Sterling’s quick return home to comfort his family is not an issue.

The fact he hasn’t featured in a squad since merely adds fuel to the rumours. Many will say Sterling should have been called-up instead of Cole Palmer following the withdrawal of James Maddison last week.

But Southgate will have too much respect for Sterling to effectively call him up as a replacement.

If Sterling’s performances continue to improve between now and March then, if Southgate is true to his word, he will have a very good chance of a recall. But until then, the questions will keep coming.

And welcome to the latest edition of our Premier League Q+A with our experts.

The focus of this live blog will be on England, Arsenal and Tottenham but we'll also have Q+A sessions with reporters on Man United and Aston Villa later this afternoon so make sure you tune in for those.