Arsenal head into another round of Premier League fixtures tomorrow knowing that only a win will see fans happy. It's been a torrid few weeks for the club and nothing but a performance and all three points will steady the ship. However, with the dangerous Wolves in town it is by no means a forgone conclusion.
With only one official absentee, in Reiss Nelson, Unai Emery has an almost fully fit squad to choose from. However, the doubt over the position of current captain Granit Xhaka, with Emery today confirming that 'its not in my mind for Xhaka to play' means that it is highly likely there will in actual fact be two absentees. Mesut Ozil, Hector Bellerin and Gabriel Martinelli performed so well in midweek against Liverpool that they have more than played their way into Emery's thinking. It's likely the Spaniard will go into this one with now usual 4-3-3 formation with Torreira the likely option to come in for Xhaka in central midfield. This will of course give the whole team a much better balance and a more defensively responsible holding midfielder.
Now Alex Lacazette is back in the first team picture after injury, every single Arsenal fan wants to see the Auba-Laca-Pepe front three. It's what Pepe was bought for; to provide real width and dribbling prowess to a front three that already had solid hold up play, pace, finishing and grit. And with the club's current situation of very indifferent form, and performances, its likely this will be the go-to front line. Behind, Dani Ceballos is the probable option, who certainly holds the shirt right now, but Mesut Ozil and his magic sixty-odd minutes against Liverpool has put pressure on that, to say the least. Arsenal were a different side altogether after Ozil went off on Wednesday night.
In defence, Kieran Tierney will be looking for his second Premier League appearance, and having seen Kolasinac start at Anfield earlier this week, it's likely the Scot will again get his chance. David Luiz and Sokratis were at it going forward last weekend but again at the back it wasn't great. Fan favourite Rob Holding had a mixed outing on Wednesday so it's likely that Emery will stick with his current pairing, and pray that his strike force can outscore the opposition.
Wolves come to town in a mixed bag of form. They had a woeful start to the season and coupled with the same Thursday-Sunday remit Arsenal have every other week, it wasn't easy and its taken some getting used to. However, having comfortably dispatched Man City in October, Wolves have shown how dangerous they can be, and importantly, how much pressure they can absorb before nailing a devastating counter. Without reliable defender Willy Boly for the foreseeable future with a broken ankle and Ryan Bennett still unavailable, Nuno Espirito Santo tried two versions of the back three last weekend and neither looked convincing. He'll want to settle on one for the long term but with at least three options to consider, we could see another experimental back line. Going forward, Patrick Cutrone and Diogo Jota are seemingly competing to be Raul Jimenez' strike partner. Either combination is dangerous and one that'll threaten all day long. There are also doubts over the fitness of young Englishman Morgan Gibbs-White who missed the midweek cup game through injury.
Expected lineup:
GK: Bernd Leno
RB: Hector Bellerin
CB: Sokratis
CB: David Luiz
LB: Kieran Tierney
CM: Matteo Guendouzi
CM: Lucas Torreira
CAM: Dani Ceballos
RW: Nicolas Pepe
ST: Alex Lacazette
LW: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Prediction: 3-1 to Arsenal with the front trio being too much to handle.
@craigbennett10
With only one official absentee, in Reiss Nelson, Unai Emery has an almost fully fit squad to choose from. However, the doubt over the position of current captain Granit Xhaka, with Emery today confirming that 'its not in my mind for Xhaka to play' means that it is highly likely there will in actual fact be two absentees. Mesut Ozil, Hector Bellerin and Gabriel Martinelli performed so well in midweek against Liverpool that they have more than played their way into Emery's thinking. It's likely the Spaniard will go into this one with now usual 4-3-3 formation with Torreira the likely option to come in for Xhaka in central midfield. This will of course give the whole team a much better balance and a more defensively responsible holding midfielder.
Now Alex Lacazette is back in the first team picture after injury, every single Arsenal fan wants to see the Auba-Laca-Pepe front three. It's what Pepe was bought for; to provide real width and dribbling prowess to a front three that already had solid hold up play, pace, finishing and grit. And with the club's current situation of very indifferent form, and performances, its likely this will be the go-to front line. Behind, Dani Ceballos is the probable option, who certainly holds the shirt right now, but Mesut Ozil and his magic sixty-odd minutes against Liverpool has put pressure on that, to say the least. Arsenal were a different side altogether after Ozil went off on Wednesday night.
In defence, Kieran Tierney will be looking for his second Premier League appearance, and having seen Kolasinac start at Anfield earlier this week, it's likely the Scot will again get his chance. David Luiz and Sokratis were at it going forward last weekend but again at the back it wasn't great. Fan favourite Rob Holding had a mixed outing on Wednesday so it's likely that Emery will stick with his current pairing, and pray that his strike force can outscore the opposition.
Wolves come to town in a mixed bag of form. They had a woeful start to the season and coupled with the same Thursday-Sunday remit Arsenal have every other week, it wasn't easy and its taken some getting used to. However, having comfortably dispatched Man City in October, Wolves have shown how dangerous they can be, and importantly, how much pressure they can absorb before nailing a devastating counter. Without reliable defender Willy Boly for the foreseeable future with a broken ankle and Ryan Bennett still unavailable, Nuno Espirito Santo tried two versions of the back three last weekend and neither looked convincing. He'll want to settle on one for the long term but with at least three options to consider, we could see another experimental back line. Going forward, Patrick Cutrone and Diogo Jota are seemingly competing to be Raul Jimenez' strike partner. Either combination is dangerous and one that'll threaten all day long. There are also doubts over the fitness of young Englishman Morgan Gibbs-White who missed the midweek cup game through injury.
Expected lineup:
GK: Bernd Leno
RB: Hector Bellerin
CB: Sokratis
CB: David Luiz
LB: Kieran Tierney
CM: Matteo Guendouzi
CM: Lucas Torreira
CAM: Dani Ceballos
RW: Nicolas Pepe
ST: Alex Lacazette
LW: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Prediction: 3-1 to Arsenal with the front trio being too much to handle.
@craigbennett10
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