Arsenal would travel to Tyneside to take on Newcastle United at St. James’ Park hoping to continue their good run of form this weekend. The Gunners have won back to back league matches and are finally looking like they are improving under Unai Emery’s guidance. However, they would come across a solid Magpies side who are battling for every point under Rafael Benitez after the Spaniard had to go through another dry transfer window this summer.
The North London giants need to pick up maximum points from this contest or else risk falling behind their top 4 rivals in the Premier League standings. Emery is expected to opt for a 4-2-3-1 formation and might name Mesut Ozil in his first-team. However, both Lucas Torreira and Alex Iwobi are a major doubt for this clash against the Magpies on Saturday.
4-2-3-1 Arsenal Predicted Lineup To Face Newcastle United
Defence
Petr Cech would retain his place in Unai Emery’s first XI despite making some errors with his distribution during the first few weeks of the season. Bernd Leno has to settle for a spot on the bench and is still waiting to make his league debut for the North London club.
The duo of Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Shkodran Mustafi would make up the Gunners central defence and are slowly starting to develop a good understanding between them. Nacho Monreal would resume his duties as the left-back while Hector Bellerin could look to use his pace as the right-back.
The Arsenal defence has shipped in 8 goals in three league matches and has failed to keep a clean sheet so far this season. Hence, Emery’s men need to better that record if they are serious about competing for a Champions League place this term.
Midfield
Both Granit Xhaka and Matteo Guendouzi look like they have their manager’s backing at this moment and is likely to make up the Gunners midfield once again. They would be responsible for protecting their backline while also feeding balls to their front players. The trio of Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could be unleashed behind Alexandre Lacazette as they try to create some opportunities in and around the Magpies penalty area.
Attack
Lacazette is expected to spearhead the Arsenal attack this weekend. He has looked quite useful in front of goal and would be expected to add to his goal tally after his heroics against Cardiff City in the previous gameweek.
Danny Welbeck might be called upon from the bench to make an impact during the latter stages of the contest on Saturday.
