The biggest game in this weekend’s Premier League comes from the Emirates when Arsenal host Chelsea in Saturday’s evening game. Arsene Wenger’s side haven’t got the better of this tie for a while but will fancy their chances against a Chelsea team that have drawn with Swansea and lost to Liverpool in their past two league games. I think we’ll see a complete overhaul from the starting XI that thrashed Nottingham Forest 4-0 in the EFL Cup midweek and here it is:
Goalkeeper: Emiliano Martinez started the cup tie ahead of both Petr Cech and David Ospina but it is the experienced Czech international who will return to face his former club this weekend.
Defence: Youngster Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Kieran Gibbs were the full-backs against the Championship side last time out but Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal are the two starters in the league and there’s no reason why we won’t see the Spanish duo line up against Chelsea.
Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi are set to continue in the early stage of their centre-back partnership up against the likes of Diego Costa this weekend. Gabriel Paulista played at the City Ground and should be among the substitutes for this one.
Midfield: Arsene Wenger prefers Francis Coquelin over both Granit Xhaka and Mohamed Elneny in the holding midfield role alongside Santi Cazorla and that looks set to be the partnership that will face Chelsea on Saturday.
Youngster Alex Iwobi has impressed when fit and should start on the left wing as he did last weekend. On the opposite flank Theo Walcott was the benefactor of Iwobi’s cheeky backheel in scoring versus Hull last weekend. The England international should be on the right wing once again with Mesut Ozil pulling the strings in the middle.
Striker: Alexis Sanchez is the preferred option up front these days with Lucas Perez still settling into life at Arsenal. Olivier Giroud really does look to be out-of-favour under the boss this season.
Here is how we think the Gunners will line up:
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