Arsenal will be looking to return to winning ways in the Premier League as they host Aston Villa at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.
The Gunners are coming on the back of a morale-boosting 3-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Europa League in midweek. But, they drew 2-2 with Watford in their last league game, and a win could be imperative as they look to return to the top four.
Here is how Unai Emery’s men could line up against the newly-promoted Premier League outfit this weekend.
Predicted 4-3-1-2 Arsenal Lineup Vs Aston Villa
Formation: 4-3-1-2
Defence
Emery will revert a few defensive changes he made in the midweek game against Frankfurt. Bernd Leno will return in goal, replacing Emiliano Martinez, who performed quite well against the German side.
Calum Chambers will make way for Ainsley Maitland-Niles at right-back. The ex-Southampton star had a tough time defending against Filip Kostic in the Frankfurt game. As for Hector Bellerin, he lacks match fitness after a long injury layoff. He will still need some time to recover.
Same can be said for Kieran Tierney, who is expected to play with the reserve side before he can get a taste of senior football. That means Sead Kolasinac will retain his place at left-back.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos, meanwhile, will return to the side, at the expense of Shkodran Mustafi. David Luiz will partner the Greek international at the heart of Arsenal’s four-man backline. These two needs to stay sharp after a horrendous defensive display against Watford last time out.
Midfield
Dani Ceballos will likely be recalled into the starting eleven. But Emery will also have to make way for Matteo Guendouzi, who was rested in midweek. That means the Spaniard is likely to employ a three-man midfield setup, with Granit Xhaka accompanying these two midfielders.
All of them will play a key role against an Aston Villa side, that boast the services of talented midfielders like John McGinn and Jack Grealish.
Attack
Emery confirmed that Mesut Ozil was being rested for the Sunday clash against Aston Villa. He is, therefore, a guaranteed starter in the number ten role, just behind the two central strikers in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pepe.
Both Aubameyang and Pepe will provide a threat on the counter. But, it will be interesting to see how they combine with Ozil, who hasn’t played a lot of football in recent months.
