There’s a lot of talk about Arsenal’s injuries, but Sunday’s opponents Aston Villa are also missing men ahead of the game at Villa Park.
New Villa boss (and former Arsenal player) Remi Garde will be taking charge of only his fifth Premier League game at the weekend, and is likely to be without a number of players.
Summer signing Jordan Amavi started the season impressively, but is out for the rest of the season after suffering a horrible knee injury on international duty. He may not be the only defensive absentee, with skipper Micah Richards still struggling with the knee injury which kept him out of last week’s game against Southampton.
Richards hasn’t trained all week, so playing him against Arsenal would surely be a huge risk.
The home side will have Jack Grealish again, after he sat out the last two games as a punishment for acting irresponsibly and going out to a club the night of a 4-0 defeat to Everton.
Versatile Dutchman Leandro Bacuna should be available and will be able to take the place of Amavi at left-back, while physical striker Rudy Gestede is also fit to play. Both players were subbed off in last weekend’s draw with Southampton but have returned to training.
Here is how we expect Villa to start on Sunday:
Guzan; Hutton, Okore, Lescott, Bacuna; Veretout Sanchez, Gueye; Gil, Ayew, Sinclair.