[Teams] Southampton vs Arsenal: Confirmed line-ups from St Mary’s

Arsenal need to get back to winning ways when we take on Southampton at St Mary’s Stadium this evening. 

Mikel Arteta welcomes Granit Xhaka back into the squad after he recovered from an ankle knock that kept him out of the defeat to Brighton at the weekend. The Swiss international is recalled in midfield with Matteo Guendouzi being axed from the squad entirely.

Mesut Ozil must once again make-do with a place among the substitutes but he’ll be hoping to make his first appearance since football returned last week. Alexandre Lacazette joins Ozil on the bench after being dropped with youngster Eddie Nketiah given the nod to start up front for Arsenal today.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang keeps his place in attack while Nicolas Pepe is also retained after scoring a superb goal at the Amex Stadium last time out. Reiss Nelson has to settle for a place on the bench but Gabriel Martinelli isn’t involved after picking up a knee injury in training.

Emi Martinez starts in goal and he’ll get a run in the team with Bernd Leno ruled out for at least a month with a knee injury. Kieran Tierney joins Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi and Rob Holding in defence with Sokratis on the bench.

Here are the confirmed line-ups:

Southampton

McCarthy, Valery, Stephens, Bednarek, Bertrand, Højbjerg, Ward-Prowse, Armstrong, Redmond, Obafemi, Ings.

Subs: Gunn, Walker-Peters, Vestergaard, Vokins, Romeu, Smallbone, Tella, Long, Adams

Arsenal

Martinez, Bellerin, Mustafi, Holding, Tierney, Pepe, Ceballos, Xhaka, Saka, Nketiah, Aubameyang.

Subs: Macey, Sokratis, Kolasinac, Maitland-Niles, Willock, Smith, Nelson, Ozil, Lacazette