Arsenal play their fourth pre-season match against Real Madrid on Tuesday night, on the back of three consecutive wins.
Arsenal eased to a comfortable 3-0 victory against Colorado Rapids in their opening fixture before scoring late to defeat Bayern Munich 2-1. They then racked up another 3-0 win over Fiorentina in the heat at the weekend to keep their 100% record going.
That record faces a severe test on Tuesday, with Real Madrid the Gunners’ opponents. Despite the heroics shown by Arsenal’s young players so far, this is likely to be a game for the more senior stars in the squad, after many were rested at the weekend.
For anyone attending the game in the USA, it kicks off on Tuesday at 7pm. However, for those watching from the UK, it’s on at midnight.
The match will be televised on Premier Sports, a paid channel showing all of the club’s pre-season games. Let’s have a look at our predicted team.
Predicted Lineup (4-2-3-1)
Leno; Maitland-Niles, Chambers, Sokratis, Kolasinac; Xhaka, Willock; Aubameyang, Özil, Mkhitaryan; Lacazette.
Unai Emery used a 4-2-3-1 against Colorado and Bayern, before switching to a three-at-the-back formation against Fiorentina. The formation change went so terribly that he had to switch back at half-time, so a 4-2-3-1 is the most likely option this time.
Leno should return in goal after Emi Martinez got a start against Fiorentina, whilst Maitland-Niles and Sokratis only made brief appearances in that match.
Chambers and Kolasinac both started on Saturday, but they came off earlier than the other senior left-backs and centre-backs. The rest of the team pretty much picks itself, with all the senior players who didn’t start at the weekend slotting in.
There were rumours that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang picked up a knock against Bayern, and these were seemingly confirmed when Unai Emery opted not to bring the striker off the bench against Fiorentina. Hopefully, he should be fit again now though.
Other than that, there have been no new injuries so far, so there won’t be any enforced changes.
Full Travelling Squad List
- Goalkeepers: Bernd Leno, Emi Martinez, Matt Macey
- Defenders: Carl Jenkinson, Calum Chambers, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Shkodran Mustafi, Zech Medley, Nacho Monreal, Sead Kolasinac, Dominic Thompson
- Midfielders: Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Joe Willock, Granit Xhaka, Robbie Burton, James Olayinka, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Mesut Özil
- Wingers/Forwards: Reiss Nelson, Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Eddie Nketiah, Tyreece John-Jules
Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Emile Smith Rowe have all travelled, but they aren’t expected to be fit to play just yet.
Smith Rowe is in light training, but not full training just yet, whilst Arsenal hope Holding will be back before pre-season ends.