Arsenal face Huddersfield Town on Saturday, with a good chance to move back into the top four after Wednesday’s draw at Old Trafford.
Chelsea and Tottenham could well drop points over the weekend, with Maurizio Sarri’s side taking on Manchester City whilst Spurs have to travel to Leicester, who haven’t lost since their game against Arsenal in mid-October.
As a result, Unai Emery’s side have to see their game against Huddersfield as an opportunity to make ground on their top four rivals. Chelsea are currently only ahead of Arsenal on goal difference, whereas Tottenham have a two-point lead.
With a throwaway game against Qarabag on Thursday, Emery can afford to play his strongest side available for this one. Let’s have a look at our predicted lineup for the clash:
1Goalkeeper and Centre-Backs
In goal, we expect Bernd Leno to keep his place. The goalkeeper remains first-choice for Unai Emery over Petr Cech, as it stands.
The Arsenal head coach appears to be committed to his three-at-the-back formation right now, having utilised it in each of the last three games. However, the injury to Rob Holding has caused problems in that regard.
Emery has suggested that Laurent Koscielny’s first senior involvement won’t be until the game against Qarabag next week.
Nacho Monreal is an option at centre-back, having just returned from injury. He’s in a similar situation to Koscielny though, having not played a competitive fixture in months. Konstantinos Mavropanos and Julio Pleguezuelo are both still out injured for the time being.
As a result, the most likely back three is the same one that finished the match against Manchester United: Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Shkodran Mustafi and Stephan Lichtsteiner.
Click ‘Next’ for Midfield, Wing-Backs, Forwards and the Full Predicted XI