Gabriel Paulista is likely to replace the injured Shkodran Mustafi at the centre of the defence as Arsenal travel to Goodison Park to face Everton.
Shkodran Mustafi is set to be on the sidelines for the whole of December after having sustained an injury over the weekend, which means a likely start at the centre of the defence for Brazilian Gabriel Paulista. Mathieu Debuchy and Per Mertesacker are the other two absentees in the defence for Arsene Wenger.
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The summer signing was brought off against Stoke City and Arsene Wenger later revealed that the player is set to be out for at least the next 21 days, which means the Stoke City game will be the last appearance for him in this calendar year.
Wenger said, “ It’s a bad one. I don’t know why it happened, but it looks a ‘good’ hamstring strain. Look, the minimum when you go out like that is 21 days. After that, today is December 10, so you are 21 days, that means he’ll have a nice Christmas!”
Elsewhere, the likes of Santi Cazorla, Yaya Sanogo and Chuba Akpom are confirmed to be on the sidelines with injuries. Danny Welbeck is also set to miss the fixture even though the former Manchester United striker has returned from his injury, with the game coming too early for the England international.
Aaron Ramsey is also a major doubt for the game with a hamstring problem which means that Wenger is likely to deploy the duo of Granit Xhaka and Francis Coquelin as the double pivot in the midfield.
Xhaka was at fault over the weekend as he gave away a penalty which Stoke City converted to gain an unexpected lead. Even though Arsenal ended up winning the fixture, Arsene Wenger may not tolerate such clumsiness from the Swiss player in the future.
Olivier Giroud has been very prolific against Everton in the past but is unlikely to get a look in, considering the menacing form that Alexis Sanchez has shown as the lone forward. It will be interesting to see how Ronald Koeman sets his team up to tackle the problem that is Alexis Sanchez and the same with Arsenal in the case of Romelu Lukaku.
Everton host Arsenal at Goodison Park on Tuesday at 19:45 GMT.
