Arsenal will entertain Burnley at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon after suffering back to back losses against Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur respectively in the past week. Unai Emery would demand a strong reaction from his players this weekend as the Gunners cannot afford to lose more ground in the race for a top 4 spot this season.
The North London outfit will set-up in a 4-3-3 formation as Emery looks to find a way to beat the Clarets in front of the loyal Arsenal supporters.
4-3-3 Arsenal Predicted Lineup To Face Burnley
Defence
Bernd Leno will start in goal for the Gunners on Saturday afternoon as Emery looks to revert back to his strongest XI for this Premier League clash. It is expected that Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal would operate as the central defenders in the absence of Rob Holding and Shkodran Mustafi who will both miss out due to injury.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos might be on the bench for this weekend’s home encounter against the Clarets after he started versus Tottenham Hotspur in midweek when the Gunners lost 2-0 at home to their North London rivals in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
Stephan Lichtsteiner will be unleashed at right-back while Sead Kolasinac should recover in time to start on the left side of Emery’s defence. This match might come too soon for Hector Bellerin who is a significant doubt for this weekend.
The Gunners defence has been average at best this season, so they need to improve considerably as a team defensively if they are to secure a top 4 place at the end of this campaign.
Midfield
The dynamic trio of Granit Xhaka, Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira will feature at the middle of the pitch as they look to work hard and establish Arsenal’s dominance in midfield. All three of them have struggled to find consistency this season so a home clash against the Clarets could be an ideal opportunity for them to showcase their worth in front of the home crowd.
Attack
Alex Iwobi would look to use his pace down the left wing while Henrikh Mkhitaryan should aim to join in on the attack from the right. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will spearhead Emery’s attack against Burnley this weekend. However, that would mean that Alexandre Lacazette will have to settle for a spot on the bench.
Danny Welbeck remains a long-term casualty for the home side while Emile-Smith Rowe will be in a race against time to be fit for this encounter. It will also be interesting to see whether Mesut Ozil is part of Emery’s squad this weekend following his lack of involvement in recent weeks.
