After consecutive wins over Chelsea and Brighton, let’s take a look at our predicted Arsenal lineup vs West Brom for Saturday.
Arsenal are finally heading in the right direction in the Premier League table, albeit with a huge gap to make up to the top sides. For the moment, the fans are just happy to have a couple of wins to celebrate, but the team really need to build on that now.
With a week’s break after this game, Mikel Arteta is free to start a strong team again. He knows he can rest them all afterwards. So with that in mind, we’re not expecting a huge number of changes. Here’s our predicted Arsenal lineup vs West Brom.
Goalkeeper
Bernd Leno should keep his place in the team, with Runar Alex Runarsson likely to make the bench. Matt Macey has been travelling with the squads recently as the extra man, so he’ll hope to displace Runarsson as backup in the second half of the season.
Defence
With Gabriel Magalhaes testing positive for Covid, Pablo Mari will probably need to continue to take his place in the starting lineup for now. Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin are the first-choice options in the full-back positions either side of him.
As a centre-back partner on the right-hand side, there are a few options. Rob Holding is probably the most likely, but David Luiz and Calum Chambers are also available. It still seems like William Saliba isn’t going to get a chance to feature.
Midfield
Thomas Partey still isn’t quite back from injury, but he’s edging closer. Arsenal still have plenty of options in midfield, with Dani Ceballos, Mohamed Elneny, and Granit Xhaka joined by Joe Willock, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, and Emile Smith Rowe.
Xhaka and Elneny started behind Smith Rowe against Brighton, with the latter putting in another strong performance.
Elneny struggled to help the Gunners break their opponents down, however, so we’re predicting Ceballos to come in for him. Against a Sam Allardyce side, Arsenal will need all the creativity they can get.
Forwards
Like David Luiz, Willian missed the last couple of games through illness, but he’s back available again now. It’s hard to say whether he’ll immediately break into the team, or whether his replacements have performed well enough to displace him in his absence.
Gabriel Martinelli, Nicolas Pepe, Bukayo Saka, and potentially Reiss Nelson are all available for selection, so Arteta certainly has options.
Similarly, he has Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Eddie Nketiah, and Folarin Balogun to choose from up front.
Saka seems like an easy choice at right-wing at the moment, and Martinelli’s pressing has been very useful on the left. But perhaps we’ll see a change up front, after Lacazette made it three goals in three games on Tuesday and Aubameyang drew another blank.