Arsenal will look to concentrate on maintaining their winning momentum as they host Burnley on Saturday. This will be Gunners’ first game at the Emirates, after coming on the back of a narrow 1-0 win over Newcastle United in their opening day fixture. There were promising signs all around in their performance against the Magpies and manager Unai Emery as well as the fans will expect pretty much the same against Burnley this weekend.
Formation: Emery is almost guaranteed to retain the 4-2-3-1 formation that provided him with an excellent balance in midfield last weekend.
Defence
Arsenal are missing Hector Bellerin due to injury while Sead Kolasinac is unlikely to feature due to personal reasons. Even new signing Kieran Tierney has been ruled for a few weeks and will spend time on the sidelines along with the young defensive duo of Rob Holding and Konstantinos Mavrapanos.
We can expect Nacho Monreal to deputise for the injured Tierney at left-back. Ainsley Maitland-Niles, on the other hand, will retain his place on the opposite flank, especially after a commendable display against Newcastle last weekend.
The injury of Holding and Mavrapanos coupled with the departure of Laurent Koscielny means Emery will be forced to start with Calum Chambers once again. The Spaniard, however, has the option of beginning with David Luiz but the ex-Southampton defender performed well against Newcastle.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos will partner chambers at the heart of the four-man Arsenal backline. As for Bernd Leno, he is the undisputed number one ‘keeper for Arsenal and will retain his place in between the sticks.
Midfield
Granit Xhaka is a fresh doubt after suffering a bruise to his back leg. He will likely face a late assessment, but we can expect Lucas Torreira to replace the Swiss international. It will be a shame for Arsenal since Xhaka was excellent against Newcastle.
As for Torreira, he will be partnered by Matteo Guendouzi, who was one of the best players last weekend, in the double-pivot. This will be Torreira’s first game of the season since the Uruguayan didn’t feature against the Magpies.
Attack
Nicolas Pepe is likely to replace the ineffective Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the right-wing slot. Manager Emery, meanwhile, has confirmed that Mesut Ozil is mentally fit to play this weekend. But, starting the German on the bench would be a more logical decision, which, in turn, will pave the way for Joe Willock to retain his role as the number ten.
Elsewhere, Reiss Nelson might be replaced by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The Gabonese international shift into a wider role, allowing Alexandre Lacazette to operate as the primary number nine.