Arsene Wenger is set to pick his final lineup as Arsenal manager against Huddersfield in the hope of collecting the team’s first away points of 2018.
Arsenal might be playing under Arsene Wenger for the very last time before the Frenchman leaves the Gunners, but against Huddersfield, they need a result to avoid an unwanted statistic. The North Londoners have failed to collect even a single away point in 2018, losing seven games in a row on the road.
The Arsenal manager highlighted the same thing in his pre-match press conference as he urged his side to finish a difficult season on a high by beating the Terriers.
“I will say to the players, ‘Look we have to prepare for the future, and the best way to do that is to win your last game and go in a positive mind into next season’.”
“We have gone through a season of ups and downs but they have always created something special and I would like that to come out in the last game by the way we play it. In fairness that’s what they did last at Leicester and I hope that for them, the best way to prepare for next season is to win the next game.”
Wenger has some selection headache as a few key players are missing the tie with injury and recovery. Mesut Ozil (back), Laurent Koscielny (achilles), Mohamed Elneny (ankle) and Santi Cazorla (achilles) are all missing from action. Konstantinos Mavropanos who had started the last three league games will also miss after being shown the red card against Leicester in the midweek loss.
Arsenal, however, should have Jack Wilshere coming back as well as Alexandre Lacazette, both of whom missed the Leicester tie for personal reasons and a knock sustained, respectively.
Petr Cech is set to continue in goal despite shipping in three goals against Leicester in midweek. Hector Bellerin will likely start at right-back, with Nacho Monreal on the left side of the Arsenal defence. There is still a decision to be made on the central defensive pairing, with Wenger having Shkodran Mustafi, Calum Chambers and Rob Holding all ready to play.
Ideally, it would be Mustafi and Chambers, but Wenger could give Holding a chance in the German’s place. In midfield, Wenger is set to stick with his commonly picked trio of Jack Wilshere, Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey to get a result against Huddersfield.
With Alexandre Lacazette returning, Wenger has a selection headache to either play the French forward or Danny Welbeck. With Lacazette in some fine form, Welbeck could be the one to miss out on Sunday. Lacazette will likely partner Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in Arsenal’s front three.
