A strong Arsenal performance on Thursday evening comfortably saw off West Bromwich Albion and Arsène Wenger must be tempted to trust the same players against Sunderland this weekend.

The boss made three changes from the team that drew with Crystal Palace; Per Mertesacker, Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud will all hope to keep their places.

Petr Čech will start in goal for the Gunners, he’s back in for a third game since his injury against Swansea City in March.

In front of the Čech, 75% of the defence remains obvious: Nacho Monreal, Héctor Bellerín, and Laurent Koscielny have done nothing to warrant being dropped and other players in the squad wouldn’t be up to the challenge of replacing them.

On Thursday, Per Mertesacker came in for Gabriel and looked his assured self – surely the German will keep his place?

There’s a similar question in midfield, where Aaron Ramsey partnered Mohamed Elneny on Thursday. Both played well but, given that Sunday is an away game, Wenger may be tempted to revert to using Francis Coquelin in the middle of the park.

The attacking midfield positions seems secured at the moment by Alex Iwobi, Mesut Özil and the in-form Alexis Sánchez all in top form.

Up front there’s more of a contest. Olivier Giroud started in the 2-0 defeat of West Brom and has a good record against Sunderland but Danny Welbeck will hope to be back in the side. He spent time on loan at Sunderland earlier in his career and could be back in the side after a rest.