After a lull in club football for the season's first international break, the Gunners are back at it on Sunday against bottom of the table Watford away at Vicarage Road. But with the Hornets under new management (yet again), it may not all be as rosy as 5th v 20th sounds.
For the first time in his Arsenal career, Head Coach Unai Emery had every senior player in full training this week. That doesn't mean that everyone is ready to go but it is a huge positive for the club and a great sight to see, especially for the long term absentees. Hector Bellerin, Kieran Tierney and Dinos Mavropanos all showed their faces alongside their senior colleagues, and added to a return for Rob Holding before the international break, one would say that it has been a good few weeks for the Arsenal. But this good period was knocked somewhat on Friday as the club announced that Alex Lacazette will be out of action for a few weeks in order to recover from an ongoing knee problem. He will be missed.
Our hosts this weekend, on the other hand, haven't had it so great. After leading the Hornets to their highest every finish and an FA Cup final, in the same season, a slow start this time out has costed Javi Gracia his job. He's been replaced with former club Head Coach Quique Sanches Flores who has quite the opening task against the Gunners. Loitering with one point at the foot of the table, Watford are struggling but can a former favourite reignite the Hornets nest in his second coming?
With Lacazette now missing, Emery has a great opportunity to bring Mesut Ozil back into the first team picture, and as much as our dream front three has it all, make no mistake, Aubameyang is far more dangerous in central areas rather than out on the left. Every cloud hey? Reiss Nelson, who had an impressive week or so with England U21s is the other option for Emery and his inclusion would mean the least amount of change to the starting XI shape. Same too in midfield, there have been comments and infographics in the media this past fortnight about Granit Xhaka's apparent poor form but under Wenger and Emery, he's been a stalwert...for which there are sound reasons why.
Ceballos seems to make the team tick, much like Ozil used to back in his pomp. Could the inclusion of both, together, spark even more going forward? It'd be great to see and with Lacazette out, it's a good opportunity to try new things. Behind, Torreira brings a tenacity and game management that no one else does whilst Guendouzi is rapidly improving. Joe Willock is making a real name for himself too so these all added to Xhaka means there's a real selection dilemma for Emery - but a good headache to have. Assuming Ozil sits in behind Pepe and Aubameyang, the midfield will be any three of Ceballos, Torreira, Guendouzi, Xhaka. If Nelson starts then two of five will miss out - again not a bad headache for the man in charge.
Watford have striker and captain Troy Deeney unavailable whilst there are doubts over defender Craig Cathcart and midfielder Etienne Capoue but the latter is only ill so is quite likely to feature. Personnel aside, Quique Sanches Flores has a real job on his hands. He has someone else's squad (much changed since his last stint in charge) and what's worse is that it is an extremely out of form group lacking confidence. However, most believe it won't last as players like former Gunner Danny Welbeck, keepers Foster and Gomes, midfielder Clevery possess real big-club mentalities and high level experience to pull others forward. The likes of Ismaila Sarr, Will Hughes and Gerard Deulofeu remain big threats and certainly ones to watch for Sokratis, Luiz and co.
Expected Lineup:
GK: Bernd Leno
RB: Ainsley Maitland-Niles
CB: Sokratis
CB: David Luiz
LB: Sead Kolasinac
CM: Granit Xhaka
CM: Matteo Guendouzi
CM: Dani Ceballos
CAM: Mesut Ozil
ST: Nicolas Pepe
ST: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Prediction: 2-0 to the Arsenal with Watford's struggles to continue.
@craigbennett10
For the first time in his Arsenal career, Head Coach Unai Emery had every senior player in full training this week. That doesn't mean that everyone is ready to go but it is a huge positive for the club and a great sight to see, especially for the long term absentees. Hector Bellerin, Kieran Tierney and Dinos Mavropanos all showed their faces alongside their senior colleagues, and added to a return for Rob Holding before the international break, one would say that it has been a good few weeks for the Arsenal. But this good period was knocked somewhat on Friday as the club announced that Alex Lacazette will be out of action for a few weeks in order to recover from an ongoing knee problem. He will be missed.
Our hosts this weekend, on the other hand, haven't had it so great. After leading the Hornets to their highest every finish and an FA Cup final, in the same season, a slow start this time out has costed Javi Gracia his job. He's been replaced with former club Head Coach Quique Sanches Flores who has quite the opening task against the Gunners. Loitering with one point at the foot of the table, Watford are struggling but can a former favourite reignite the Hornets nest in his second coming?
With Lacazette now missing, Emery has a great opportunity to bring Mesut Ozil back into the first team picture, and as much as our dream front three has it all, make no mistake, Aubameyang is far more dangerous in central areas rather than out on the left. Every cloud hey? Reiss Nelson, who had an impressive week or so with England U21s is the other option for Emery and his inclusion would mean the least amount of change to the starting XI shape. Same too in midfield, there have been comments and infographics in the media this past fortnight about Granit Xhaka's apparent poor form but under Wenger and Emery, he's been a stalwert...for which there are sound reasons why.
Ceballos seems to make the team tick, much like Ozil used to back in his pomp. Could the inclusion of both, together, spark even more going forward? It'd be great to see and with Lacazette out, it's a good opportunity to try new things. Behind, Torreira brings a tenacity and game management that no one else does whilst Guendouzi is rapidly improving. Joe Willock is making a real name for himself too so these all added to Xhaka means there's a real selection dilemma for Emery - but a good headache to have. Assuming Ozil sits in behind Pepe and Aubameyang, the midfield will be any three of Ceballos, Torreira, Guendouzi, Xhaka. If Nelson starts then two of five will miss out - again not a bad headache for the man in charge.
Watford have striker and captain Troy Deeney unavailable whilst there are doubts over defender Craig Cathcart and midfielder Etienne Capoue but the latter is only ill so is quite likely to feature. Personnel aside, Quique Sanches Flores has a real job on his hands. He has someone else's squad (much changed since his last stint in charge) and what's worse is that it is an extremely out of form group lacking confidence. However, most believe it won't last as players like former Gunner Danny Welbeck, keepers Foster and Gomes, midfielder Clevery possess real big-club mentalities and high level experience to pull others forward. The likes of Ismaila Sarr, Will Hughes and Gerard Deulofeu remain big threats and certainly ones to watch for Sokratis, Luiz and co.
Expected Lineup:
GK: Bernd Leno
RB: Ainsley Maitland-Niles
CB: Sokratis
CB: David Luiz
LB: Sead Kolasinac
CM: Granit Xhaka
CM: Matteo Guendouzi
CM: Dani Ceballos
CAM: Mesut Ozil
ST: Nicolas Pepe
ST: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Prediction: 2-0 to the Arsenal with Watford's struggles to continue.
@craigbennett10
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