Arsenal travel to Watford on Monday as they try to keep pace in the battle for a Premier League top four spot.
Thanks to the weekend results, Arsenal have dropped all the way down to sixth ahead of Monday’s match. Meanwhile, the hosts have the chance to overtake Everton, Wolves and Leicester City to move into seventh if they beat the Gunners.
Unfortunately, Unai Emery has another distraction to contend with. Arsenal are 2-0 up in their Europa League quarter-final against Napoli, and they travel to Italy for the second leg on Thursday. As a result, it seems very likely the head coach will make some changes.
Let’s have a look at the team news and our predicted starting lineup for the clash.
Goalkeeper and Centre-Backs
In goal, Bernd Leno will come back in for Petr Cech, who kept a clean sheet against Napoli. The fact Emery stuck with Cech in such a major European clash confirms that he’s going to keep playing Leno in the league and his Czech counterpart in Europe, regardless of performances.
Assuming the Gunners continue to play three at the back, there aren’t many options for Emery here. Sokratis Papastathopoulos is suspended, Rob Holding is injured and Konstantinos Mavropanos hasn’t been getting a look in. As a result, Nacho Monreal, Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi will likely start together.
The only real alternative is Stephan Lichtsteiner in the back three, but the Swiss international has only made one squad appearance and played zero minutes in Arsenal’s last eight matches.
Midfield and Wing-Backs
Fresh from his assist against Napoli, Ainsley Maitland-Niles should keep his place against Watford. Neither Carl Jenkinson nor Stephan Lichtsteiner is really making a serious challenge for starts at this stage. On the left, there isn’t any genuine alternative to Sead Kolasinac even if Unai Emery wanted to change.
The midfield spots are far more open right now. Lucas Torreira performed excellently and came off early against Napoli, so he’ll presumably get a start, but there are many options to fill the spot alongside him.
Granit Xhaka is being assessed ahead of the game, Aaron Ramsey is in good form, Mohamed Elneny has found his way back into contention and Matteo Guendouzi is available as well. Assuming Xhaka isn’t risked and Ramsey is saved for Napoli, Guendouzi seems most likely to start alongside Torreira.
Forwards
The main changes to the team from Thursday’s victory are likely to come in the front three. Starting Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and Mesut Özil three times in a week is an unnecessary risk when you have Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alex Iwobi and Denis Suarez waiting for opportunities.
As a result, two of them should drop to the bench to allow Mkhitaryan and Iwobi to come in as wide options. The only one to keep his place will probably be Aubameyang, as he pushes for the Golden Boot, particularly given Lacazette’s comparatively disappointing away form in the league this season.
Suarez, Özil and Lacazette will all be available to change the game from the bench, if necessary.
Full Predicted Starting XI
