Arsenal face bottom of the table Southampton tonight, a team who cannot beg, pray or buy themselves a win right now.
Mikel Arteta should be confident of a victory but will be wary of any more dropped points before they face Manchester City next week, which is being touted as the proverbial title-decider.
ARSENAL TEAM NEWS
Mohamed Elneny (knee) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) are long-term absentees, while William Saliba (back) is still some time away from a return to action based on the manager’s press conference.
Arsenal might take the safe route with Oleksandr Zinchenko with the Ukrainian still not 100 % yet.
PREDICTED ARSENAL LINEUP VS SOUTHAMPTON (4-3-3)
DEFENCE
The evocative Aaron Ramsdale will continue with his stint between the goal-posts. The Englishman will be keen to secure a clean sheet having last seen one against Fulham in early March.
Ben White is nailed on in the Arsenal lineup, given his form and also for the fact that Tomiyasu remains out of action.
Rob Holding will deputise for William Saliba in one of the central defensive positions while Gabriel will take up the other spot in the Arsenal lineup.
Mikel Arteta is likely to continue with Kieran Tierney at left-back giving the preferred option Zinchenko some much-needed rest and protection ahead of the crucial clash against Manchester City.
MIDFIELD
The centre of the pitch is pretty much nailed on for the Gunners when not dealing with any absentees.
Thomas Partey will take up the central position in a 3-man midfield. Granit Xhaka, who has enjoyed a fine season, will be stationed on the left while the more attacking and the creative glue in the team, Martin Odegaard will take up his spot on the right in the Arsenal lineup.
ATTACK
Arteta now has four legitimate and in-form options to choose from for his three attacking roles.
Bukayo Saka seems to be a certainty to start on the right, despite his costly penalty miss against West Ham United. Gabriel Martinelli also should be handed a start in the Arsenal lineup which could see a toss up between Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard for the third spot.
In case the Belgian starts, Martinelli will find himself up front and Trossard will take up the left-flank. But we feel Jesus starting with Trossard coming on in the latter stages is a more likely scenario. In which case, Martinelli will start on the left with the ex-Manchester City striker reprising his role through the middle.
