Arsenal will welcome Southampton to the Emirates this evening in the Premier League, with three players confirmed as missing.
Granit Xhaka and Hector Bellerin have both picked up suspensions after the clash with Burnley at the weekend and will miss out. The Spaniard will only miss tonight’s encounter after picking up his fifth yellow of the campaign, while the Swiss midfielder will miss a further two domestic matches.
Thomas Partey has also been confirmed as missing by Arsenal’s official website. The Ghanaian star was unable to complete the 90 minutes against Tottenham thanks to a second thigh injury, and a return date is still yet to be released.
David Luiz could well miss out also, as he continues to be assessed by the club following his clash of heads with Raul Jimenez of Wolves two weeks ago.
Nicolas Pepe and Gabriel Martinelli could well make their returns to action tonight however, while I expect the former to go straight into the starting line-up.
Predicted XI:
Leno
Chambers Mari Gabriel Tierney
Willock Elneny Saka
Pepe Lacazette Aubameyang
I expect Arteta to ring the changes a little after numerous games, and with the suspended players forced to miss out.
Your guess is as good as mine as to whether Willock, Ceballos or possibly even Maitland-Niles gets the nod in midfield, but I would be very shocked if Pepe wasn’t thrown straight back into the team after his performances in Europe in recent weeks.
Who would you like to see starting the evening? Could Balogun be in the squad to make his PL debut off the bench?
Patrick