Arsenal will be aiming to return to winning ways when they host Napoli in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16 stage on Thursday night.
The Gunners produced a disappointing away performance at Everton over the weekend, where they struggled to find the cutting edge to their gameplay in a 1-0 loss.
However, they should produce a much-better display at the Emirates Stadium, where the players have generally given their best over the course of the season.
Formation: 4-3-3
Predicted Lineup:
Petr Cech has been allocated with the goalkeeping duties for the Cup competitions for most of the season. The 36-year-old is widely expected to don the gloves for the visit from Carlo Ancelotti’s men.
In the defence, changes appear unlikely from the previous game with manager Unai Emery confirming that Laurent Koscielny remains a genuine doubt with a foot problem sustained in training.
In this case, Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Nacho Monreal should feature at the heart of the backline, with Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Sead Kolasinac once more slotting into the right and left wing-back roles respectively.
Onto the midfield, Granit Xhaka remains another major doubt with his groin concern and this could witness Lucas Torreira drafted into the lineup alongside Aaron Ramsey, who was only afforded a role off the bench last weekend.
The duo of Matteo Guendouzi and Mohamed Elneny were guilty of lacking positional awareness on multiple occasions in the recent Merseyside trip, and the former should find himself dropped after featuring in back-to-back league games due to Xhaka’s injury and Torreira’s domestic suspension.
In the attack front, Mesut Ozil’s position could be considered with Alex Iwobi producing a lively cameo performance against the Toffees despite the eventual defeat. We are fancying the Nigerian to slot into the left wing with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the opposite flank while Alexandre Lacazette should be tasked with leading the line.
Emery has restricted the prospect of pairing Aubameyang and Lacazette together since the international break, but the duo are capable of launching counter-attacks at lightning speeds which can put the pressure on the Napoli defence from the off.
Predicted Arsenal XI (3-4-3): Bernd Leno, Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Nacho Monreal, Ainsley Maitland- Niles, Aaron Ramsey, Lucas Torreira, Sead Kolasinac, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alex Iwobi, Alexandre Lacazette
