Arsenal face West Bromwich Albion on Sunday, let’s take a look at our predicted lineup for a match that means a lot more to the opposition.
After elimination from the Europa League on Thursday, it’s hard to find much motivation for the remainder of the Premier League campaign.
Arsenal can still technically qualify for European competition (and by that I mean the Europa Conference League) by finishing seventh, but it’s largely out of their hands now.
All Mikel Arteta’s side can do is try and end the campaign with a few wins. It would also be nice to actually win a home game before fans return.
Meanwhile, West Bromwich Albion are playing for their Premier League lives. If they lose to Arsenal, they go down to the Championship. Even a draw realistically sends them down. Here’s our predicted Arsenal lineup for the match.
Goalkeeper
Mat Ryan has probably earned another chance after his clean sheet last weekend. Bernd Leno also kept a clean sheet on Thursday, but he’ll likely start the following game against Chelsea, so it wouldn’t be a big issue to give Ryan another match to prove his worth.
Defence
At left-back, Kieran Tierney is back, but he was forced into playing 80 minutes on Thursday when he wasn’t supposed to be starting, so you’d expect him to get a rest. Cedric Soares can come in for him, assuming Granit Xhaka is also absent.
After performing pretty well against Newcastle United, Hector Bellerin was poor against Villarreal, and after two games in a row he’ll probably drop out. Calum Chambers is the only right-back available to take over if Cedric is at left-back.
Gabriel Magalhaes should also come in at left-centre-back, with Rob Holding likely to keep his place on the right in the absence of David Luiz through injury.
Midfield
Dani Ceballos got a rest in midweek because he was suspended, and with Xhaka potentially unavailable the Spanish international will need to take up the spot in midfield alongside Mohamed Elneny.
Thomas Partey continues to look a bit off the pace and had to run the midfield largely on his own against Villarreal, so a rest would make sense.
Martin Odegaard came off early on Thursday, so he can start this one ahead of Emile Smith Rowe, who worked tirelessly to no avail in the semi-final second leg.
Forwards
After his substitute appearance against Villarreal, Alexandre Lacazette could get a start here to allow Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang a rest.
Aubameyang was playing through less-than-ideal conditions after his battle with malaria, simply because he was the only experienced striker available for the last week. He can rest up for the Chelsea game.
Gabriel Martinelli should get a chance to come in on the left, with Willian on the right so Bukayo Saka and Nicolas Pepe can both take the game off as well.