Back in the Premier League for the final match before the international break, let’s take a look at our predicted Arsenal lineup to face West Ham United.
Arsenal technically lost to Olympiacos on Thursday, though it didn’t feel that bad due to the fact they won the tie on aggregate. But before they worry about the Europa League quarter-finals, there are two big games coming up in the Premier League.
First up is a trip to West Ham, before hosting Liverpool after the international break. David Moyes’ side are currently fifth in the table, and they can go level with Chelsea on points in fourth by winning their game in hand against Arsenal.
Arsenal are still way down the table in 10th, but the points gap to the weekend opponents is down to seven. A win would cut it to four and open up the possibility of a late run for at least some form of European competition.
Mikel Arteta is sure to go as strong as possible before the international break, here’s our Arsenal predicted lineup for the match.
Goalkeeper
Bernd Leno lost his clean sheet to an unfortunate deflection against Olympiacos, but he made a couple of great saves and will keep his place as usual. Mat Ryan should make the bench with Runar Alex Runarsson as the third choice for emergencies.
Defence
Hector Bellerin doesn’t seem to be particularly in favour with Arteta right now. He was on the bench for the North London derby, and he came off early against Olympiacos as the manager tried to secure the result. We’re predicting Cedric Soares to start this one.
The rest of the back four will likely remain the same, with Kieran Tierney, Gabriel Magalhaes, and David Luiz starting. It seems difficult for anyone else to break in at the moment.
Midfield
After rotating both of them out for the second leg against Olympiacos, Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard should reclaim their places in the midfield alongside Granit Xhaka. Dani Ceballos and Mohamed Elneny will drop out.
Forwards
Arteta has a big call to make up front after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struggled against Olympiacos. He had good chances, but he wasted them, after Alexandre Lacazette stepped up well in the North London derby.
It’s still a tough call though. As long as Aubameyang is getting the chances, he tends to start putting them away in bucketloads at some point. But Lacazette looks like the safer call right now.
With concerns over Bukayo Saka’s fitness for this one, it’s surely safer to start Nicolas Pepe on the right. Willian seems to be a doubt as well on the other side, so we’ll likely see Emile Smith Rowe keep his place too.