Arsenal play host to Everton this weekend with Theo Walcott in line to take on his former side.
Many eyes will be on the England international, who left the Gunners to move to Merseyside last month, and Walcott will be keen to add to the two goals the winger grabbed in midweek, but the majority of people will be most keen to get a glimpse of the two new Arsenal stars.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are both in line to make their full debuts today, with the former only coming off the bench in the midweek loss to Swansea.
We may have to bid to return to form without the help of our new record signing due to illness however, while Jack Wilshere has already missed the midweek fixture with the same issue. Danny Welbeck is expected to miss today’s fixture, but could return as early as next week.
Predicted XI:
Cech
Mustafi Koscielny Monreal
Bellerin Xhaka Ramsey Maitland-Niles
Mkhitaryan Ozil
Lacazette
It would be great to get a look at a possible partnership between Aubameyang and Lacazette at some point in the match, but I don’t feel like we will be able to take liberties against Sam Allardyce’s side.
I expect the Blues to be set-up on the counter-attack, and to concentrate on their defensive work in the build-up to our fixture. Allardyce has come up against Wenger on a number of occasions, and having tasked his side to avoid defeat against the Frenchman in 14 of his 33 head-to-heads, he will be well aware of the task in hand.
I firmly expect our boys to turn our form around after the midweek shock, but I’m not going to go overboard and expect our new signings to both smash it within a week of joining. I’m predicting a 2-1 win, and am hoping that PEA will grab the winning goal from the bench to get his Arsenal career off to the best possible start.
What are your predictions for today’s match? Will Allardyce frustrate Wenger?
Pat J