Arsenal make the daunting trip to Italy today to take on Italy’s most in-form team in AC Milan, while our team has hit record lows of late.
Gennaro Gattuso took over the helm in late October and took time to get the right tune out of his players, but has managed to steer his team to remain unbeaten since Christmas Day, and has even strung together a series of six wins in all competitions coming into the match, including booking their place in the Coppa Italia final.
Our side on the other hand are on the wrong end of the form spectrum, and just clocked our fourth consecutive loss in all competitions for the first time under Arsene Wenger, and find ourselves slipping further and further away from that fourth spot, and must now concentrate on the Europa League as our best opportunity for Champions League football next season.
Our boys will have to face the daunting task without two key players having lost Nacho Monreal to injury, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was unable to be entered into our squad for the competition.
Predicted line-up
Ospina
Bellerin Koscielny Mustafi Maitland-Niles
Xhaka Elneny Ramsey
Mkhitaryan Ozil
Welbeck
This team will give us the extra man in midfield to try and cause the in-form side trouble as they try to push forward, and I can see our team being more than happy to come away with a draw, preferably with our boys having grabbed an away goal.
While Welbeck has struggled in a central role in his most recent outings, we have little choice in that department, but he has more than enough ability to break that run tonight, especially with the talents of Mkhi and Ozil ready to feed him the supply.
I feel like 1-1 would be a great result, but I have a feeling we will end up losing 2-1, which will leave us more than enough of a chance to reach the next stage.
What are your predictions for tonight? Does anyone have the confidence to expect a win?
Pat J