Arsenal face Stade Rennais FC on Thursday in the second leg of their Europa League last-16 tie, with a two-goal deficit to overturn if they want to progress.
Arsenal started the knockout tie strongly with an early goal and a number of first-half chances in France, but a red card for Sokratis Papastathopoulos turned the whole thing on its head. Rennes equalised a couple of touches later, then scored twice in the second half to put the Gunners in an extremely precarious position.
The one thing Unai Emery’s side has going for it is the away goal. A 2-0 victory on Thursday would be enough to send them through to the quarter-final. However, conceding one would leave Arsenal needing to score three and then add another in extra time, and letting two in would mean having to score five just to avoid defeat.
As a result, the team needs to be strong at both ends, and with no Premier League match at the weekend Emery has no excuse not to play his best players. Let’s have a look at our predicted lineup for the clash.
3Forwards
The big news this week is that Alexandre Lacazette’s suspension has been reduced, meaning he’s available for this match. He should start alongside Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, as Arsenal will need all their firepower to get a result on the night.
If Emery opts to play a 3-4-3, he could put Aubameyang out wide on the right with Alex Iwobi on the left, or even Denis Suarez. However, we predict he’ll stick with the 3-4-1-2 and play Mesut Özil in behind his two strikers. There’s always the potential to change the formation with Iwobi, Ramsey and Suarez coming off the bench.
Eddie Nketiah got some minutes at the weekend, and he’ll presumably be available as a substitute as well.
Click ‘Next’ for the full Predicted Starting XI