Match Preview

It feels like forever since Arsenal’s bore draw at Burnley, with the Gunners going on a warm weather training trip in the meantime to help them prepare for this game on Sunday, in the hopes to change their recent run of draws into victories. Arteta will be hopeful that the trip has brought his squad closer together while giving him the opportunity to work on some of our problems in attack.

It’s a must win game for the home side, especially with the news breaking on Friday night that Manchester City have been banned from the Champions League for the next two seasons, meaning their place will now be given to the team in 5th. Arteta’s team need to take the game to the away side, getting the ball moving from the off, to avoid sinking into our habit of having a lack of movement and intent when going forward. I expect to see the Gunners set up in an attacking manner, pinning the Magpies back into their own half while keeping the ball for extended periods of time. Newcastle will pick their moments to get forward and will hope to be clinical when the home sides defence inevitably gives them the opportunity. The Emirates has a completely different feel to it in recent times, with everyone surrounding the club more optimistic for the future, hopefully the players can put in a performance which starts off a strong run towards the end of the season. I think this will be a close game, let’s look at some team news for both sides:

The medical team at Arsenal seem to be working miracles at the moment, with Sead Kolasinac, Bukayo Saka and Reiss Nelson all recovering from injuries to be in contention for this Sunday. It’s a much needed boost for Arteta as it gives him more option to plug his makeshift defence. New signings Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares have been ruled out of this fixture, as the Spanish centre-back has been deemed not match fit, while the Portuguese right back is still recovering from knee ligament injury. The latter is aiming to be back in full training by the end of February. The Magpies will be without Andy Carrol, Jonjo Shelvey, Dwight Gale, Jack Colback, Paul Dummett, Javier Manquillo, Emil Krafth and Yoshinori Muto. With some many players out, Steve Bruce will hope to have some of them back within the next couple of weeks, to help them push for results in the latter stages of the season.

Predicted Lineup

Formation – 4-2-3-1

GK – Bernd Leno

RB – Hector Bellerin

CB – David Luiz

CB – Sokratis

LB – Bukayo Saka

CM – Lucas Torreira

CM – Granit Xhaka

RM – Nicolas Pepe

CAM – Mesut Ozil

LM – Gabriel Martinelli

ST – Aubameyang

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James Humphreys