After progressing to the last-16 of the Europa League in midweek, Arsenal return to Premier League action on Sunday, hosting Southampton at the Emirates Stadium.
Thanks to that victory over BATE Borisov, Arsenal don’t have to put all their eggs in the Premier League basket just yet. The Europa League still provides a route to Champions League qualification, but Unai Emery will surely push for a top-four domestic finish in case that doesn’t work out.
With Manchester United playing Liverpool and Chelsea taking the weekend off for the League Cup final, Arsenal have a fantastic opportunity to get themselves back into fourth against the Saints. They’ll be wary of their opponents after losing the reverse fixture 3-2, though.
The Gunners have a game every weekend and midweek from now until the international break at the end of March, so Emery is likely to rotate a bit from game to game. Let’s have a look at our predicted lineup for this one.
3Forwards
As mentioned at the start of this piece, Emery is going to have to rotate in certain positions over the coming weeks, and one of these positions is centre-forward.
Alexandre Lacazette is suspended for the upcoming last-16 matches against Stade Rennais FC, so it seems pretty likely Arsenal will use him in the league games against Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang taking the Europa League clashes.
There’s no point playing a system with two strikers now just to have to switch to a new formation in the key European clashes. In preparation for that, and in view of the fact Aubameyang played 90 minutes on Thursday, Lacazette should start on Sunday. Then Aubameyang can take the Bournemouth game, Lacazette the Spurs game, and so on.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan was taken off early against Borisov, probably with a view to starting him this weekend too. On the other side, Alex Iwobi and Denis Suarez are fighting for one spot, but the Nigerian’s strong performances recently should give him the edge.
Click ‘Next’ for the full Predicted Starting XI