Will Unai Emery stick with his normal defensive line up against Southampton on Saturday?
The international break is now over and we can start looking forward to Arsenal’s upcoming game against Southampton.
As usual, it is almost impossible to second guess Unai Emery and what team he will put out. You can ignore logic and common sense, the Spaniard always drops a surprise in the lineup that is bewildering.
One cannot even predict what formation he will go with. However, that does mean that we cannot have a go at predicting what team Emery will send out.
I am going to focus on the defence in this article and I am of the opinion he will go with a back four. The reason is simple, Arsenal is at home and there really is no need to go all defensive with three at the back complemented with two wing-backs.
I would love him to drop both David Luiz and Sokratis and instead play two out of Rob Holding, Calum Chambers and Shkodran Mustafi, but that is not going to happen. I am fairly convinced that Luiz and Sokratis will be the central defensive pairing.
If he is match fit I would like him to start with Kieran Tierney but my fear is that Sead Kolasinac will be given the nod.
I would be stunned if Hector Bellerin is not started on the right.
So, the back four I predict Emery will go with will be Kolasinac, Luiz, Sokratis and Bellerin. I would like to see Tierney, Holding, Chambers, Bellerin but we don’t always get what we want, do we?
Let me know what defence you think he will go with, not what you want but what players you think Emery will actually select.