Arsenal take on Southampton at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday evening. Here is the team Gooner Mac expects Mikel Arteta to select:
Goalkeeper: Bernd Leno is one of the few Arsenal players who hasn’t been criticised this season and he’ll keep his place between the sticks tomorrow night.
Defence: Arteta will be forced into at least one change in defence as Hector Bellerin is suspended after picking up his fifth booking of the season during the 1-0 defeat to Burnley. Cedric Soares is the man expected to fill-in at right-back.
David Luiz remains a doubt with a head injury so Rob Holding is likely to continue alongside Gabriel in the middle of the Arsenal defence while Kieran Tierney should keep his place at left-back ahead of Sead Kolasinac.
Midfield: Granit Xhaka will start his three-game suspension following his dismissal against Burnley at the weekend. Arteta has suggested he hasn’t given up on his former captain just yet despite calls from some fans for Xhaka to be sold in January following this latest incident.
Thomas Partey remains on the sidelines after aggravating a thigh injury against Tottenham so Mohamed Elneny could be joined by Dani Ceballos in the middle of the park tomorrow night.
Attack: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s struggles in front of goal continued against Burnley but he’s still expected to keep his place in attack while Bukayo Saka is also likely to be retained on the left wing.
Arteta is set to freshen things up in the final third as Arsenal’s goalscoring woes continue so Nicolas Pepe could come in for Willian on the right wing after the Ivorian completed his domestic ban.
Joe Willock is pushing for a recall and he could replace Alexandre Lacazette in the attacking central midfield role with Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah are other attacking options from the bench.
Here is how I think we’ll see Arsenal line-up:
