Arsenal are hosting Östersunds FK for the second leg of the round of 32 Europa League fixture on Thursday night, at the Emirates. For the majority of the Arsenal faithful, this tie should only be a formality after beating the visitors 3-0 comfortably in the previous leg but Östersunds remain hopeful.
The Gunners are currently in the 6th spot of the Premier League table, 8 points behind the top four spots and it looks like the Europa League is their best chance of making it into the Champions League next season.
When asked about the priority of the competition at this stage of the season, Arsene Wenger was quoted, “It is one of the priorities we have, but there is a long way to go. We have to qualify, then after that see who we get. But we are focused to do well. But ideally, we want to come back to the Champions League through the Premier League.”
Manchester United boss, Jose Mourinho had put all of his eggs in one basket, which was to win the Europa league and when compared, Wenger said, “He did that much later in the season, once they were in the semi-finals. We are not as far as that, we have to focus on the Premier League.”
While the Frenchman has still not given up hopes for a league comeback, the EFL League Cup final is scheduled for a clash against Manchester City on Sunday. It would be ideal for the Arsenal boss to have all his first-team players for the cup tie and therefore Emirates might see a lot of rare faces on Thursday.
Here is how Arsenal might line up.
Formation: 4-3-3
Defence
David Ospina is a confirmed starter in between the sticks for the next 2 games. Petr Cech might still be woozy from the knock he picked up against Everton earlier in the month. He looked fine against Tottenham Hotspur last week.
Sead Kolasinac is expected to get the rare start ahead of Nacho Monreal in the left-back position. The Bosnian will have to impress Wenger and start replicating his form which saw him win the player of the month award twice this season.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles might provide cover from the right with Calum Chambers and Rob Holding fielded in the centre-back roles.
Midfield
Mohamed Elneny should hold the anchor position with Joseph Willock and Henrikh Mkhitaryan fielded in front of him.
Attack
Alex Iwobi will have to take up the left flank position and Reiss Nelson should be thrilled to get the nod for the right wing role.
Danny Welbeck was poor in the last fixture and will have to improve his performance from the lone striker position against a relatively weaker opponent.
