Arsenal will play hosts to Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening on the back of a bitter 1-0 loss against West Ham United last weekend. The Gunners need to bounce back from their loss as soon as possible so that they don’t lose any more ground in the race for the top 4 spots in the Premier League this season.
Unai Emery might revert back to his favoured 3-4-2-1 and might start with Lucas Torreira in midfield. However, Rob Holding, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Danny Welbeck remain long-term casualties and won’t play a part in the London derby this weekend.
3-4-2-1 Arsenal Predicted Lineup To Face Chelsea
Defence
Bernd Leno will lineup as Emery’s first-choice goalie once again this weekend despite failing to keep a clean sheet in his past seven league starts for the Gunners. The Arsenal boss could opt for a back three of Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Laurent Koscielny as he looks to add some more protection at the back.
The North London giants have an average defensive record in the Premier League this season having conceded 32 goals in 21 league encounters so far. Thus, this London derby against the Pensioners could be an ideal opportunity for the Arsenal defenders to turn things around at the back by putting in a solid defensive display on Saturday.
Midfield
The dynamic midfield duo of Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira could feature as the holding midfielders as they look to establish Arsenal’s dominance at the centre of the park.
Sead Kolasinac will hug the left touchline looking to overlap Alex Iwobi down the wide areas. Ainsley Maitland-Niles might keep his place down the right flank as he looks to impress once again as part of Emery’s starting XI. However, he would know that he needs to put in a good performance to retain his position in the starting eleven now that Hector Bellerin is fit enough to start.
Matteo Guendouzi will be part of Emery’s bench for this encounter so the French youngster might come on to provide some fresh energy in midfield in the second half of the derby.
Attack
Alex Iwobi will operate as the left-sided forward as he would aim to make direct runs behind the Chelsea defence. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been prolific in front of goal but he might have to put in a shift down the right side as Emery will opt to start with Alexandre Lacazette down the middle as a centre-forward.
The French striker has been starved of first-team starts this season, so this will be another opportunity for him to impress in the colours of Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium this weekend.
