Arsenal face Brighton at the Emirates Stadium for their final Premier League home game of the season on Sunday, where nothing but three points will be acceptable.
Arsenal are two points behind fourth-place Chelsea, knowing that a Gunners win and a draw for the Blues would be enough to overtake with one game to go. Depending on the scoreline, Unai Emery’s side would either be ahead on goal difference or goals scored at that point.
Fail to win the game and top four is all but gone. Even if Chelsea don’t win their match, Manchester United are just one point behind Arsenal, facing relegated Huddersfield. The Gunners have already wasted three chances to keep their top four dream alive, there almost certainly won’t be another one if they mess up again.
As a result, we’d expect Emery to go for a strong team, even if he does have one eye on the Europa League semi-final away leg on Thursday. Let’s have a look at our predicted lineup for the match.
Goalkeeper and Centre-Backs
Laurent Koscielny looked exhausted against Valencia, after possibly picking up a knock in the first half. We expect him to drop to the bench as a result, with Konstantinos Mavropanos getting another chance to impress.
In the other two centre-back positions, there aren’t many options other than Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos. Nacho Monreal is a possibility, but given he was rested for much of the match on Thursday and Sead Kolasinac wasn’t, it seems more likely the Spaniard will start at wing-back.
In goal, Bernd Leno will return, hoping that this time all the saves he makes will translate to a clean sheet. Emery has made it clear that Cech will start the Europa League games and Leno the Premier League matches.
Midfield and Wing-Backs
Lucas Torreira only came off the bench for 30 minutes against Valencia on Thursday, so he should be ready to start ahead of either Matteo Guendouzi or Granit Xhaka. Given how important it is for Arsenal to get three points, you’d think Emery would stick with his more experienced option, so Guendouzi is likely to be the player dropping to the bench.
Mohamed Elneny and Joe Willock are also available, but Willock hasn’t been given a senior start since January and Elneny’s recent performances haven’t inspired much confidence.
In the wing-back positions, Nacho Monreal is likely to give Sead Kolasinac a rest on the left. Ainsley Maitland-Niles is probably going to have to keep his place though, because Carl Jenkinson and Stephan Lichtsteiner’s performances have been poor when they’ve been given opportunities.
Front Three
Mesut Özil was another player to come off early against Valencia on Thursday, so he should be available to start again on Sunday.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette are crucial to Arsenal’s goalscoring efforts right now, so they might just have to grin and bear yet another start. If they can get through this week they’ll have over two weeks of rest before the Europa League final (fingers crossed), so that’s the motivation.
Alex Iwobi, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eddie Nketiah will probably have to settle for the bench again. Iwobi and Mkhitaryan, in particular, need to make more of their opportunities to be deserving of more starts in important matches.
Full Predicted Starting Lineup
[td_smart_list_end]
Arsenal vs Brighton – Betting Tips
Alexandre Lacazette scored twice on Thursday and the majority of his goals come at home. Bet on Lacazette to score anytime with MustardBet at 2.268.
Arsenal have only conceded one goal in home games against Brighton in the history of the two clubs. Bet against both teams to score with MustardBet at 1.890.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is fighting to be the Premier League’s top scorer, and he has goals in both of his most recent matches at the Emirates Stadium. Bet on Aubameyang to score anytime with MustardBet at 1.789.
There have been at least four goals in each of the last three matches between Arsenal and Leicester City. Bet on over 3.00 goals with MustardBet at 2.079.
Prediction: Arsenal 2-0 (7.229 with MustardBet).
All odds correct at time of writing.