I cannot imagine that Unai Emery will field anything but his strongest eleven against Wolves on Wednesday night. Now is not the time to do any more tinkering, I understand the need to protect players but we have just two competitions to navigate, the Premier League and Europa League and it makes no sense to rest players because, simply put, every game is a cup final and you never rest players for cup finals.
It is a given that he will start Bernd Leno in goal but it is the defence that Emery has to get right and that means he must drop Mustafi, it would be unforgivable for him to play that huge liability and so I expect a back three of Sokratis, Koscielny and Monreal.
As with Mustafi, it is unthinkable that the boss will risk playing Jenkinson again and so that means a starting spot for Ainsley Maitland-Niles with Sead Kolasinac on the other flank, those two have generally proven to be reliable in those positions.
There is no way Elneny will be selected and for that matter Guendouzi, though it would not surprise me too much to see the latter picked. I expect the central pair of Xhaka and Torreira to be given the nod with Ozil in front of them both.
That leaves Lacazette and Aubameyang up front again though knowing Emery he could instead go with just the one and find a spot for Mkhitaryan but I am doubtful.
So, my predicted eleven is as follows.
Leno
Maitland-Niles
Sokratis
Monreal
Koscielny
Kolasinac
Xhaka
Torreira
Ozil
Lacazette
Aubameyang
Now, that is our best eleven, but Emery does have his own way of doing things and so Iwobi, Guendouzi and Mkhitaryan may easily be selected but as long as there is no place for Elneny, Jenkinson and Mustafi I will be happy.
What team do you want to see fielded this evening?