First-placed Arsenal take on third-placed Aston Villa at Villa Park on matchday 15 of the Premier League at 12:30 local time. With the hosts on a four-match winning run, it will be another difficult game for the league leaders.
Arsenal beat Brentford 2-0 in their midweek fixture and Mikel Arteta rested a few of his key players, but with a tough away trip on the horizon, the coach will look to deploy his best possible team against his compatriot, Unai Emery.
Here is a look at Arsenal’s possible eleven.
Goalkeeper – David Raya is expected to continue in goal for Arsenal in spite of keeping only one clean sheet in his last four outings for them.
Defenders – Gabriel Magalhaes is still out due to injury and William Saliba is unlikely to be risked with a busy run of fixtures this month. Cristhian Mosquera is also facing a spell on the sidelines after picking up an injury last time out.
Therefore, Arsenal are facing an injury crisis at centre-back. Piero Hincapie will continue in the heart of the backline again while Jurrien Timber could return to play in the middle of defence. Ben White could continue at right-back with Riccardo Calafiori keeping his place on the left ahead of Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Eze at number 10, Gyokeres back
Midfielders – Declan Rice is expected to be fit for the visit to Aston Villa despite being withdrawn prematurely in the team’s last match, so he could start for Arsenal in the double pivot with Martin Zubimendi expected to retain his place next to the former West Ham star too.
Martin Odegaard has just returned from injury, however, and could drop out as part of his workload management plan, thus opening the door for £60 million summer signing Eberechi Eze to be the attacking midfielder.
Bukayo Saka might also return to the team after playing only half an hour off the bench on Wednesday but making his presence felt with a goal, but Gabriel Martinelli is likely to continue on the left flank ahead of Leandro Trossard.
Forward – Even though Mikel Merino scored in the last game for Arsenal, Viktor Gyokeres could make his return from injury to lead the line for the Londoners from the word go.
Here is how Arsenal’s team might look on paper.
