Arsenal face AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League on Wednesday, just a few days after their 2-0 win over Southampton at the Emirates Stadium.

Unai Emery’s side moved up into the top four with a victory on Sunday, whilst Manchester United dropped points to Liverpool and Chelsea took the weekend off to lose the League Cup final.

The Gunners have matches against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United coming up, so it’s crucial they get a win over Bournemouth in preparation for those two final big-six games of the campaign. There’s no point resting players just to drop points in all three games, Emery has to go strong and win on Wednesday.

Let’s have a look at our predicted Arsenal lineup for the clash.

Goalkeeper and Defence

Bernd Leno kept a clean sheet with a good performance on Sunday, and he’ll almost certainly keep his place over Petr Cech for this match.

Considering how well the 4-2-3-1 system has worked in the last two games, Unai Emery will probably stick with it again, meaning four at the back. Sead Kolasinac was one of Arsenal’s best players at the weekend, so he’ll keep his place on the left, but expect some changes in the other three positions.

Stephan Lichtsteiner picked up a knock against Southampton. Although Emery seems hopeful it’s nothing serious, you’d imagine Ainsley Maitland-Niles will come back into the team after illness, just in case.

In defence, Laurent Koscielny is fit again and Shkodran Mustafi was played 90 minutes twice in the last few days. As a result, the Frenchman should come in alongside Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

Click ‘Next’ for Midfield, Forwards and the full Predicted Starting XI

Midfield

Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira gave Matteo Guendouzi a break on Sunday, and he’ll likely come back into the starting eleven to return the favour in midweek. Despite Xhaka’s recent return from injury, Emery appears to feel he can rely on the Swiss international’s fitness more than Torreira’s.

As a result, Xhaka and Guendouzi will likely play as the sitting midfield two, as they did against BATE Borisov.

Ahead of them, Mesut Özil should come back into the side. He impressed in his start against Borisov last Thursday and looked even better in his cameo appearance at the weekend.

The German appears to be back to his creative best, and he has two goals and one assist in his four games against Bournemouth. His inclusion means Aaron Ramsey will drop back to the bench.

Click ‘Next’ for Forwards and the full Predicted Starting XI

Forwards

As predicted over the weekend, Unai Emery gave a start to Alexandre Lacazette, after the Frenchman’s Europa League suspension was announced. It makes sense for the head coach to rotate between them after that decision.

The duo can’t play together in the last-16, so Emery may as well give the team time to settle into a single-striker system they can use in that tie. Presumably, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will start against Bournemouth, followed by Lacazette against Tottenham, Aubameyang against Rennes, and so on.

That doesn’t mean the alternate striker can’t come off the bench to help out later in the game, as against Southampton.

Alex Iwobi picked up a knock against The Saints, so this is likely Denis Suarez’s time to get his first start. On the other side, Henrikh Mkhitaryan will have to keep his place after a goal and an assist on Sunday.

Click ‘Next’ for the full Predicted Starting XI

Predicted Starting XI