Unai Emery is set to tweak his lineup for the trip to Stamford Bridge, as Arsenal prepare to face Chelsea on Saturday evening.
Arsenal are set to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, and the Gunners will aim to not lose their opening two games of a Premier League season since 1992-93. Unai Emery would want to continue that record and will potentially have to tweak his side with necessary changes to avoid a defeat against the Blues.
In his pre-match press conference, the Arsenal boss suggested that Alexandre Lacazette could start after the Frenchman impressed upon coming off the bench against Manchester City. Additionally, the subject was of Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang starting together, with the Gabonese likely to start from the left side of attack.
Emery also suggested there could be a first start for summer signing, Lucas Torreira, who also started on the bench against Manchester City. Making way for the Uruguayan, could be Matteo Guendouzi and Granit Xhaka, with Aaron Ramsey dropping deeper into the midfield pivot.
But another one of Arsenal’s summer signing, goalkeeper Bernd Leno will still have to wait to make his debut after Emery seemingly confirmed that he intends to stick with Petr Cech in goal, for the veteran’s experience.
“I am very happy with his performance. He has experience, he has quality, he has the capacity. Also, with Bernd Leno [it’s the same]. They are two goalkeepers who are important to us. For Saturday, the decision for me is easy. Petr Cech can continue to start the match, I believe in him. [But] If Bernd starts, I believe in him also.”
The most precarious situation for Arsenal though, is at left-back, with Sead Kolasinac and Ainsley Maitland-Niles out injured. Nacho Monreal is reportedly back in full training, but there are doubts over his match fitness.
That leaves Emery with Stephan Lichtsteiner as the only other option. The Swiss veteran was deployed after Maitland-Niles’ sustained his leg injury against City. Emery is expected to stick with Sokratis and Mustafi at the heart of the Arsenal defence, and sitck with the 4-2-3-1 formation to stifle Chelsea.
With Ramsey dropping deep, Mesut Ozil should start in his favoured no. 10 role. Alongside the German meastro in attack, Henrikh Mkhitaryan is expected to start on the right side, with Aubameyang on the left, as iterated earlier.
