After the calamitous performance in Belarus last week, Unai Emery needs to make a few changes if he wants to turn things around and progress to the last-16 of the Europa League.
For a start, Alexandre Lacazette won’t be available for the clash, after picking up a red card. However, there are other areas of the pitch where Emery needs to make changes, as well as a couple of players returning after injury.
Although Arsenal have a Premier League game against Southampton at the weekend, they can’t let that affect the team selection for this match. It’s now or never for Emery’s side in the Europa League, and he has to go as strong as he can and get a result or it’s over.
Let’s have a look at our predicted lineup for the match.
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There’s only really one candidate to start up front for Arsenal, after Alexandre Lacazette’s red card, and that’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Eddie Nketiah is also available, and he scored and assisted against Tottenham Hotspur for the u23s on Friday, but Emery is unlikely to gamble on youth in the starting lineup for this fixture.
Out wide, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alex Iwobi seem pretty likely to keep their places. Denis Suarez is another option, but again, this isn’t really the time for a full debut. Arsenal need to stick with a system they’re familiar with and players they know work together.
Having said that, Bukayo Saka and Xavier Amaechi should both be in with a shot at making the bench. The two academy stars are performing excellently game after game for the youth teams, and Saka made a great first impression in Arsenal’s last Europa League home game. Either would be a worthy wide addition to the bench.
Click ‘Next’ for the full Predicted Starting XI