Arsenal have the opportunity to name an unchanged starting line-up when they take on Burnley this afternoon, but we expect there to be two players brought in from kick-off.
The Gunners got their first Premier League win of the season last weekend, beating Norwich 1-0 as we jumped off the bottom of the table, and we will be looking to beat another struggling side today.
We should have just three players ruled out of action today as confirmed on Arsenal’s official website, with all of Granit Xhaka, Mo Elneny and Rob Holding also having missed last week’s encounter, but while all of Emile Smith Rowe, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Thomas Partey were not deemed fit enough to play the full 90 minutes, we are hopeful that isn’t true this time around.
Much of the anticipation will be on whether goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale gets to keep his role between the sticks following another clean sheet last weekend, or if the manager will opt to bring in the more-senior option in Leno back into the fold, and we believe the Englishman will get the nod.
Predicted XI:
Ramsdale
Tomiyasu White Gabriel Tierney
Partey Lokonga
Saka Odegaard Smith Rowe
Aubameyang
Is the above the best starting eleven of those available? Should AMN, Pepe or Lacazette be in contention?
Patrick
I don’t know which Arsenal you guys have been watching to make up an Arsenal 11 without Pepe cos he is the most likely of all Arsenal players on the pitch to make something happen. I will never put Odegaard and Smith on same team is one for the other when I have Pepe and Saka available.
True talk, am behind u
Ramsdale
Tomiyasu White Gabriel Tierney
Partey Odegaard
Pepe Smith-Rowe Saka
Auba
That is the line-up for me. Not sure why so many seem to feel the need for Lokonga, we’re going to have a lot of the ball. Burnley play long and wide. It’s Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel and Tierney that are going to need to deal with the long balls, wingers and crosses.
Ode is a similar player to Cazorla just with a higher centre of gravity so it doesn’t look as flashy. He holds on to the ball well, dribbles well, gets out of tight spaces easily, rarely gets tackled, rarely misplaces a pass, plays forward, links the spaces well, surprisingly good defensively for his type of player etc. He can play slightly deeper with no issue especially if we are going to have a lot of the ball. We could also just go full 433 with that line-up.
Only real spanner in the works could be if Arteta goes with Laca and that would likely force one of Saka/Pepe out, I’d lean towards Saka being benched as he’s played a lot football the past year (Most minutes for us last year and pretty heavy international involvement.)
Despite Burnley’s reputation they are pretty bad at defending set-pieces/wide play it’s more going forward where they excel in that. Gabriel anytime scorer might not be a bad shout for the betting inclined out there. Although Arsenal -0.5 is good enough by itself in that regard. Even Jones Knows at sky has got on Arsenal top 6 at 9/4 (which is a cracking bet btw, with Leicester/West Ham/Spurs in Europe and two of them not being overly impressive so far anyway that is huge price that will likely disappear in the coming weeks.)
Wasn’t meant to be a reply.
I definitely see pepe starting this one while smith comes off the bench. I won’t be surprised if Lacazette starts along side abumeyang in today’s match.
Love the predicted 11 but agree that Pepe should start
Pepe is the reason arsenal are number 18
He can take his man he don’t know when to pass and when to shoot
Believe
100% Correct, thought I was the only one seeing
that. But I doubt if the manager and coaching
stuff see that at all
Once he improves on his timing on passing, then
Arsenal can harvest many goals in a single match
Would have preferred to have a front four consisting of Auba, Laca, Saka and Odegaard with Lokonga and Partey in the midfield while our backline remain unchanged from the last match.
Pepe must start
He will explode soon into the player he was in France
Pepe must be included, if our right back is mobile Pepe will make and impact. I prefer Smith in the 10 role
Pepe⚽⚽
I can see arsenal winning this one given the fited and fixed players deliver a bright performance. and also with a good tactics.
N:B All blames should not be directed to MA. Let’s give our support to the team we love and stop criticism
BUR 0:3 ARS. COYG!
Pepe is the reason we score our first goal for the season , now you leave him on the bench to accommodate ESR , why cant he bench one between Odergard and ESR ? ESR is a number 10 not a winger
Oh how quickly we forget.
We’ve been muck so far and even when on form Burnley cause problems.
Any win will do for me.