Will Unai Emery make multiple defensive changes for Sheff Utd clash?
There was a time when Unai Emery had very little to work with when it came to the Arsenal defence. That is no longer the case.
On Monday evening Emery will have the strongest defence available to him than at any time since he became the Arsenal coach. Which means that he now has some big decisions to make. Does he start with some of the returning injured trio of Rob Holding, Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin or stick with the old guard?
There is a large number of different line ups that Emery can now go with and so to some extent, it is purely guesswork trying to predict the Spaniards team selection but that does not mean that we cannot do a tiny bit of analysis and make it an educated guess.
Will he go with Sead Kolasinac or Kieran Tierney? I get the impression and feeling that Tierney will get the nod over the Bosnian. Which would be the right decision in my opinion.
It also makes sense that Bellerin is started on the right. There really is no one else that is suited to that position. Well, not at the level of Bellerin.
That leaves the central defenders and I cannot see Emery changing the status quo of Sokratis and David Luiz.
There is definitely an argument for both Calum Chambers and Holding to start but Emery is not a big risk-taker. He would be very unlikely to make three changes in one go from one Premier League game to the next, even with an international break in between.
If he brings in both Tierney and Bellerin then he would want to maintain stability in the centre.
Anyway, that is my guess, a back four of Tierney, Luiz, Sokratis and Bellerin.