Arsenal will make the trip to Old Trafford this afternoon to take on Manchester United, but are limited in options at the back.
Rob Holding is ruled out after picking up an injury in the warm-up ahead of the Manchester City clash two weeks ago, but is hoping to return to full training in the coming week.
David Luiz is being assessed before a decision is made on his inclusion, although I wouldn’t expect him to be thrown into the starting line-up personally. Should he remain sidelined, William Saliba could well be given a place in the senior squad for the first time.
Calum Chambers is back in full training after 11 months out, but isn’t expected to be close to being ready to feature, while Pablo Mari remains out, and is still a couple of weeks away from a return to full training, as stated by Arsenal on the eve of the Europa League clash with Dundalk.
Gabriel Martinelli has began light training following his knee injury also, but he remains some way away from being ready for the first-team also.
Predicted XI:
Leno
Mustafi Gabriel Tierney
Bellerin Ceballos Partey Saka
Willian Lacazette Aubameyang
Had AMN not played the full 90 minutes on Thursday, I would have imagined he would get the nod at LWB today, with Saka retaining his spot on the wing.
Granit Xhaka also featured for most of the Europa League clash, but could still start ahead of Ceballos this afternoon.
Who would you change from my predicted team? Do any of Thursday night’s performers deserve a chance?
Patrick
Ño point switching back to that 3-4-3….
Just play a three man midfield of Ceballos-Partey-Xhaka.
Bellerin-Musti-Gabi-Tierney
Ceballos-Partey-Xhaka
Pepe-Auba-Willian/Saka
Bellerín-Saliba-Gabriel-Tierney
Willock/AMN-Partey-Ceballos
Saka-Auba-willian/Pépé
Our midfield gets weak easily with Xhaka ,
Arteta needs to loosen up, give the teenagers some time to play, they can be daring and that’s what we need, midfielders who can go the mile,
I support you on this 👌
Arteta should play either 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 for the entire game.
Hope he doesn’t play that 4-3-3 without the ball and 3-4-3 (Xhaka as LCB) with the ball, like he did against Leicester
Please recall what Brendon Rodgers said after the game against leicester “we purposefully targeted Xhaka”
Xhaka offers nothing to the offense and is a liability to the defense, which is what every coach in the league knows by now.
We’ve seen this past week what Joe Willock or Maitland Niles can do both going forward and defensively yet you still want to pick a player who is slow both physically and mentally and causes problems in the team which others have to work twice as hard cover for his lack of ability
Arsenal will not win against top apposition with him in the team
Agree Eddie if Arteta wants a 4-3-3 then why go back to the 343 only to chop and change it the next match. That being said, hopefully he will allow 1 midfielder to sit back as cover rather than sitting 2 back (Ceballos & Xhaka) like he did against Leicester.
Utd is weak defensively so we should be stronger in the attack and take advantage of that area of weaknesses rather than allowing them possession and countering.
Be interesting to see how Arteta plays this one; conservative or attacking.
Again,, go and read what Brendon Rodgers said after the game against leicester, his statement will give you a pretty good idea of what the problem is the team and how we can address the issues by getting shot of Xhaka
Leno
Mustaffi Gabriel Tierney
Amn Elnenny Partey Saka
Pepe Lacca Auba
Nice. With Elneny to try and supply another wonderful pass into their 18 yard box
Elneny offers more than Xhaka, not much more but a little bit more. However I know Joe Willock is vast improvement on the either of those two and increases the teams attacking options
Arteta Must place 433
And the lineup is to be Rumorson (goalkeeper) Kolasinac, Teirney, Xhaka, Partsey, Cebayos, Pepe,Nkeitah, Willock, Follarin and Saka.
Well if we turn up to try attack it should be a good game which I’d say we would have a good chance if 3 pts.
If we try hitting on the break then a draw is what we will get.
Utd are hot and cold but form goes out the window in this game so I’m thinking 2-2 draw.
But we will see let’s hope we can get our season back on track with a good win and hope the var and ref have a good game.
Who knows honestly. Both teams are unpredictable, you never know who is going to show up. Both us and United have the ability to grab defeat from the jaws of victory.
Our history at OT is horrific but let’s hope we can get a point at least, pushing for a winner at the end.
What i can say is, the more possession we have the more we seem to struggle….
This would be my preferred line up
Aubameyang,
Saka, Willian, Pepe,
Ceballos, Partey,
Tierney, Gabriel, Mustafi, Bellerin,
Leno.
@Eddie, do u know u can make a gud coach. Think about that.
I wouldn’t play William he’s been disappointing so far and Nketiah is still too raw for a game we need to get something from and leaves much to be desired
Leno
Mustafi Gabriel Tierney
Maitland-Niles Xhaka Partey Ceballos
and Saka
Pepe Lacazette Aubameyang
Leno
Belerin. Mustafi. Gabriel Tierney
Partey Cebalos. Xhaka
Saka.
Lacazette. Auba
This will be our line up against man u.
…………………….Leno
Bellerin Gabriel Mustafi Tierny
……………… Niles…..Partey
…………………….Ceballos
……..Auba………Laca…….Saka
65th, Willock for Ceballos,
70th Nelson for Saka
75h Pepe for lLaca, Auba in middle.
Id like to sée this line up, but Arteta will mess it up and add Luiz if fit.
Luiz is lady CB ever pick, unfortunatly first one laid on sheet. Cant wish him Cant wish Antoine injury or any health issue
..
Meant Last CB pick ever is Luiz.
Holding’s back!!
Yaay. I’m so glad that it’s not mustafi there Sue. But it’s a 343 formation and finally xhaka is on the bench. Thought I’d never see that
Shocked over Xhaka, Kstix!! I still can’t pick an Arteta 11 🤣
Must say, after Leicester, I breathed a sigh of relief looking at our defence!!
And what a relief xhaka is on the bench. Elneny is just showing us he’s a better player
Would have preferred Amn over elneny ,Pepe over willian
3-4-3
And Complicated one…
With Ball 4-3-3
Without ball 3-4-3
God Save us
Arsenal XI: Leno, Tierney, Holding, Gabriel, Bellerín, Partey, Elneny, Saka, Willian, Lacazette, Aubameyang.
Again Complicated 3-4-3
With Ball 4-3-3 without ball 3-4-3
Sit back hit on counter..
So frustrating..
Brilliant line up in my opinion. I hope the players especially the forwards turn up today.
For 3-4-3 you need dribbler on wings…
Be it Wing backs or Wingers but we don’t have any dribblers on wingers except Willian…
But his days are gone
We’re actually playing better and are attacking more
Sue and no Ceballos? I am crushed.😁
😂😂😂😂 I bet you are!!!
Regardless Sue: I hope we win today and get back to Arsenal football. This is a statement game.
Me too, Icw 🙂
Ceballos instead of Willian using Saka on wings would have been better. But then again I am not the coach 😅
Provided we don’t give them too much respect, we can get a positive result. COYG!
Fingers crossed, AubaKedavra! 🙂
Cellabos is alot like Elneny….they rarely make agame changing mistake but they also rarely create a positive game changing contribution
I wouldn’t play William he’s been disappointing so far and Nketiah is still too raw for a game we need to get something from and leaves much to be desired
Leno
Mustafi Gabriel Tierney
Maitland-Niles Xhaka Partey Ceballos
and Saka
Pepe Lacazette Aubameyang
If we have a lot of possession, I see us struggling
Let’s hope United don’t respect us as much as Leicester then
Agreed…very clear everytime we dominate possession we struggle to win
OT: Perhaps we can finally lay to rest who seems to be better between Leno and Martinez, now that the latter has started shipping in goals.
What an underwhelming seven goals thriller with some goals to spare!