Arsenal are at the Emirates Stadium for the second leg of their Europa League round of 16 tie against Rennes on Thursday night.
The Gunners suffered a disappointing 3-1 defeat in the first leg on the road, but they have the opportunity to make amends when Rennes visit them.
Unai Emery’s side come off a solid 2-0 league win over Manchester United in the Premier League, and they can make progress in Europe with a similar scoreline against Rennes.
Formation: 3-4-1-2
Predicted Lineup:
Bernd Leno was in impressive form between the sticks against Manchester United where he made an impressive point-blank save to deny Romelu Lukaku. Still, the German is unlikely to get the nod for this game with Petr Cech being Emery’s preferred pick for the Europa League.
Ahead of Cech, Emery is likely to resort to a three-man central defence which worked to good effect against United. With Sokratis serving a one-match European suspension, Shkodran Mustafi should come into the mix to partner Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal.
In the wing-back positions, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Sead Kolasinac seem certain to feature after their solid displays against United last weekend. Maitland-Niles had a strong second half against the Red Devils where he made several crucial interceptions. On the contrary, Kolasinac was a constant menace in the attack, in particular, but he may need to somewhat curb his instincts with Ismaila Sarr in the opposite ranks.
In the midfield, Granit Xhaka remains a constant presence and he could once more be accompanied by Ramsey, should Emery decide to go with an attack-minded formation. Lucas Torreira remains available after missing the United game through domestic suspension but he could be called up to provide defensive assurance later in the game.
In the attack front, we are going with the same trio from the United game with Mesut Ozil in the number 10 role while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette should feature together upfront.
Lacazette was initially suspended for three European games after his straight red card against BATE Borisov, but Arsenal have managed to partly win the appeal to make him available for the Rennes clash.
Predicted Lineup: Leno, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Ramsey, Kolasinac, Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette
