Arsenal face Huddersfield Town in a Premier League clash at the John Smith’s Stadium on Saturday, as Unai Emery’s side try to get back into the top four.
Last time out, Arsenal had to travel to Manchester City, whilst Chelsea and Manchester United had comparatively straight-forward games against Huddersfield and Leicester. The roles are reversed this weekend, with Chelsea travelling to City and Arsenal taking on Huddersfield, though United have another easy game against Fulham.
As a result, Arsenal need to make sure they pick up all three points to bridge the gap to the Champions League places, and hope Manchester City are just as ruthless with Chelsea as they were last weekend.
Let’s have a look at our predicted lineup for the clash.
3Forwards
Like Laurent Koscielny, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struggled with illness this week, but Unai Emery suggested the striker would be okay for Saturday nonetheless. Aubameyang hasn’t missed a single league game this season, and he’s started 23 of the 25, so it’s no big risk to predict another start despite the illness.
It’s a similar story with Alexandre Lacazette recently, after five starts in a row in the league. Particularly with the doubts around Aubameyang, it would be a big surprise to see the 27-year-old miss out.
The third spot in the front three is really up for grabs though. Henrikh Mkhitaryan is back and available, though he’s only played 45 minutes of u23 football since his injury. Alex Iwobi is an option, of course, but he didn’t have a great game last weekend. Aaron Ramsey is an option too, out wide or instead of Özil in midfield.
However, Unai Emery was talking up the progress of his loan signing Denis Suarez on Thursday, so we’re going to bet on the 25-year-old making his full Arsenal debut.
Click ‘Next’ for the full Predicted Starting XI