[Teams] Arsenal vs Stoke: Monreal Makes Debut

Arsenal welcome Stoke City to the Emirates on Saturday afternoon looking to close the gap on fourth-placed Tottenham.

We head into the game sitting in sixth place in the league – four points behind Spurs – so a win today will really put the pressure on our rivals ahead of their trip to the Hawthorns to face West Brom on Sunday.

Left-back Kieran Gibbs has been ruled out for up to six weeks with a thigh injury picked up against Liverpool in midweek so new signing Nacho Monreal makes his debut today. Abou Diaby returns to the starting line-up as does Mikel Arteta and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski and Aaron Ramsey dropping to the bench.

Thomas Vermaelen misses out with a calf problem. Here are the confirmed line-ups for the game:

Arsenal Team

Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Diaby, Arteta, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Giroud

Subs: Mannone, Jenkinson, Santos, Ramsey, Rosicky, Cazorla, Podolski

Stoke Team

Begovic; Shotton, Shawcross (c), Huth, Wilkinson; Walters, Cameron, Nzonzi, Whelan, Etherington; Crouch

Subs: Sorensen, Jones, Owen, Adam, Whitehead, Kightly, Jerome.

How we’ve seen the line-ups, what’s your score prediction for the game? Leave your suggestions below.