With their Champions League aspirations all but extinguished, Arsenal face another tough game against Southampton on Thursday night.
Arsenal are still only six points off Manchester United in fifth and, assuming that Manchester City’s European ban is upheld for next season, the gap is not insurmountable in theory.
Having marked the Premier League restart with demoralising defeats to City and Brighton, however, Mikel Arteta would need to pull off a minor miracle to qualify for Europe’s top tier.
Southampton have been tricky opponents for Arsenal in recent seasons. The two sides drew at the Emirates in November, but only thanks to a last-gasp equaliser from Alexandre Lacazette.
Arsenal have only won two of their last five games against the Saints, who dismantled Norwich in their first game of Project Restart.
Having handed Ralph Hasenhuttl a new four-year contract earlier this month, the Southampton hierarchy will want to see the side maintain their intensity until the end of the season.
Arteta, meanwhile, has a spate of injuries to worry about on top of Arsenal’s fading hopes of Champions League football.
Here’s how he could set up his side at St Mary’s on Thursday evening.
Defence
Though the news about Bernd Leno could certainly be worse, Arsenal will still have to do without him for the remainder of the campaign. He has been diagnosed with a ligament sprain after his coming-together with Neal Maupay – as opposed to serious ligament damage as first feared – meaning he could be back in as little as four to six weeks.
In the meantime, Emi Martinez will have to deputise in goal. With Pablo Mari also injured and David Luiz suspended thanks to his red card against Manchester City, Arteta will most likely start Shkodran Mustafi and Rob Holding at centre-back with Hector Bellerin at right-back and Kieran Tierney to the left of them.
Expected starters: Martinez; Bellerin, Mustafi, Holding, Tierney
Midfield
With Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka still working their way back to full fitness, Arteta may decide to go with the same midfield three that he started against Brighton.
Short of deep midfielders, he could utilise Matteo Guendouzi as a defensive shield with Dani Ceballos and Bukayo Saka ahead of him. While Saka has generally been used out wide either as a winger or a left wing-back this term, he was given a more central role against Brighton and was one of the few Arsenal players to emerge from the game with any credit.
Expected starters: Guendouzi, Ceballos, Saka
Attack
Though Arteta could well decide that Eddie Nketiah deserves another chance up front after two games without a goal for Lacazette, the Frenchman seems like the safest option.
Having scored his seventh goal of the season with a beautiful curling effort against Brighton, Nicolas Pepe will expect to start. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could continue on the left of the front three, though he has struggled to make an impact since the Premier League restart.
Expected starters: Pepe, Lacazette, Aubameyang
More on Arsenal
- Cunningham: Arsenal’s players should ask for their money back after Kroenke’s £325m windfall
- Is it really worth it? Arsenal need to take a long, hard look at their relationship with this super agent
- Opinion: What Arsenal’s ‘nauseous’ statement on Ozil and China says about the club
- The road to 2024: How a new Champions League format could leave Arsenal high and dry
- Magee: Arsenal’s Europa League exit shows Arteta cannot work miracles with this squad
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2NtGpHL
Post a Comment