Predicted lineup of Leicester vs Arsenal
Arsenal head to King Power Stadium on the back of two wins at home against Aston Villa and then Leeds United.
Surprisingly, in the past two months, Arsenal have only played two away games. One at Burnley and the other at Brighton.
Although taking a decent four points from those two games, Mikel Arteta’s team has largely looked insipid away from home this season.
A lackluster two-nil defeat at Brentford was followed by an embarrassing five-nil thrashing at the Etihad. So, the Arsenal faithful will naturally be expecting some nail-biting moments before and during the clash against the Foxes.
Mikel Arteta will lead his men to the East Midlands on the back of an eight-game unbeaten streak. The ninth-placed team will clash with tenth-placed, and both are separated just by goal difference.
Even though it will be difficult to predict the outcome of the match, what most fans might get right is Arsenal’s starting 11.
The manager of the North London outfit is gradually settling on his starting lineup, but we can never rule out any surprises.
Regardless, here’s how I think Mikel Arteta will pick his team:
Goalkeeper
After spending huge money on Aaron Ramsdale, everybody knew that he would eventually take Bernd Leno’s starting spot.
But people were surprised how early it happened. After starting the opening three Premier League games with Leno, Ramsdale seems to have overtaken the throne from the German and does not look likely to lose it.
Ramsdale starts.
Defense
It does not make sense to change the back four of Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, Gabriel and Kieran Tierney. Unless there’s an injury and Tavares can slot in easily.
White was substituted in the midweek against Leeds United due to a “bug” problem. Thus, he looks to be the only doubt for the match against Leicester.
But hoping everything goes well, all of them will be expected to start.
Midfield
Thomas Partey will definitely start. But who will start alongside him is the main question. Arteta can easily go with a more attacking midfield trio of Partey, Martin Odegaard and Emile Smith Rowe.
But given Smith Rowe’s impressive performances from the left and the need to be solid at the center of the park against a dangerous Leicester side, Lokonga looks like the safest bet.
The front three behind the striker is a place where Arteta has several tools, which every Arsenal fan knows.
If the Arsenal boss wants a more chaotic option, he can deploy Martinelli on the left wing and shift Smith Rowe to the center.
But given Arteta’s reluctance of picking the Brazilian for Premier League matches this season, everybody will expect Odegaard in the number 10 position.
Whereas nobody can seem to take the place of Bukayo Saka. He has become the very fabric of the current team in Red and White.
Bukayo Saka, Odegaard and Smith Rowe start.
Attack
Pierre Emerick Aubameyang is clearly now the first-choice center forward. But it will be interesting to see whether Arteta retains faith with the impressive Alexander Lacazette.
The Frenchman has been a breath of fresh air since being reintroduced in the team against Crystal Palace, where he salvaged an undeserved point for the home team.
A similar 4-4-2 formation is another viable option, which worked so well against Aston Villa in the last matchday.
I would personally want it over the 4-2-3-1 formation in which Odegaard starts. It appears like the Norwegian is going through a bad patch right now. Thus, I won’t have any problems with Odegaard being on the bench.
BUT I still think Arteta will go ahead with Odegaard. Now let’s see what lineup he picks and how the team performs at a place where the Gunners have dreaded playing at in the past.
…
Ramsdale
Tomiyasu White Gabriel Tierney
Partey Lokonga
Saka Odegaard Smith Rowe
Aubameyang
Which team would you pick?