Arsenal will shift their attention to the Europa League this Thursday when they travel to Azerbaijan to take on Qarabag FK. Since the defeat at the hands of Chelsea, Arsenal have won seven games in all competitions and are expected to make it eight tomorrow.
Although Arsenal haven’t been at their fluent best as Unai Emery is slowing stamping his authority on the squad, the Gunners have been efficient in front of goal and got the job done at the back. There has been a bit of criticism that they have gotten lucky as opposing teams haven’t been clinical, but that is the least of Emery’s problems right now.
The Arsenal team under Wenger were rather infamous for being brittle, but this side has been the exact opposite so far. Emery has added balance to the team with the 4-2-3-1 setup, and we expect him to stick to it when they travel to Baku.
Arsenal Team News
Petr Cech’s recent injury might be a blessing in disguise. Although the former Chelsea custodian was solid with his shot-stopping, his distribution was disastrous and nearly cost the side on more than one occasion. Laurent Koscielny is still out injured, and the Frenchman joined by Carl Jenkinson and Konstantinos Mavropanos on the treatment table.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be present in the Arsenal squad due to tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Predicted Arsenal Lineup
Defence
The Gunners have played quite a lot of games in the last couple of weeks, so we expect Emery to make a few rotations. Leno will keep his place in goal, but Rob Holding could partner Sokratis at the heart of the defence. Sead Kolasinac is back and might get his first start at left-back, and Bosman arrival Stephan Lichtsteiner is expected to start at right-back.
Midfield
It looks like Torreira and Xhaka will be Emery preferred choice in the league, so we might see the gaffer giving Guendouzi and Elneny a run-out tomorrow. Mesut Ozil could start in the number 10 role as Aaron Ramsey is unavailable due to personal reasons.
Attack
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette have forged a good partnership, but the latter could get a breather, which means Aubameyang will get the chance to start in his favoured role up top.
Alex Iwobi impressed this past weekend and his cross led to the opening goal against Watford. He should start on the right while Danny Welbeck could feature on the left.
Aubameyang
Welbeck – Ozil – Iwobi
Guendouzi – Elneny
Kolasinac – Holding – Sokratis – Lichsteiner
Leno