Arsenal have the opportunity to secure a fourth league win on the bounce when they face Tottenham Hotspur at the Wembley Stadium in Saturday’s north London derby.
The Gunners go into the game with the better run of form but they face a massive hurdle to overcome, given they have failed to win against the top six on the road in the past four years.
Formation: 3-4-2-1
Predicted Arsenal Lineup:
Bernd Leno could not keep a clean sheet against Bournemouth in midweek but that was solely due to the poor judgement from Matteo Guendouzi. The German should feature in goal against Spurs.
In the defence, Unai Emery may stick with the three-man backline to provide the added protection against the likes of Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen in the opposition end. Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Nacho Monreal and Laurent Koscielny should retain the positions. Koscielny suffered a late knock against Bournemouth but he should feature after being able to continue in that game.
At right wing-back, Carl Jenkinson will most likely to be replaced and Ainsley Maitland-Niles could be the player tasked with the role after recently returning to training. On the opposite end, Sead Kolasinac should retain his position with Emery recently suggesting that the Bosnian could have carried on against Bournemouth despite the recent muscular concern.
Onto the midfield, Matteo Guendouzi seems the likelier candidate to be sacrificed to compensate for the return of Granit Xhaka, who was completely rested in midweek. The Swiss should partner the efficient Lucas Torreira, who produced a stellar performance in the reverse league fixture against Spurs.
In the attack, Henrikh Mkhitaryan should take up one of the position after contributing two goals and three assists in the past two league games alone.
Alongside him, Alex Iwobi could be favoured ahead of Mesut Ozil, given the Nigerian offers the better work rate which Emery tends to favour for the big games.
Upfront, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is likely to lead the line on his own which was the case during the previous league meeting against Spurs.
The Gabon international recently ended a four-match goal drought against Bournemouth and this should give him the confidence for the derby.
