Arsenal face Leicester City at the Emirates with Unai Emery expected to make several changes to the side that locked horns with Fulham last time out
Arsenal have only won ten games in a row five times in their history. Unai Emery will aim to make it six with only his twelfth game in charge of the Gunners when his side take on Leicester City at the Emirates.
In the Foxes, Arsenal face a familiar opponent, and the game has had a history of seeing a lot of goal mouth action. But, Leicester have never won at the Emirates in the Premier League and the Gunners will aim to keep that run going. Emery is expected to shuffle the side that beat Fulham as many key stars have returned from their respective problems.
Mesut Ozil, who missed last game with back spasm, is fit, as is Danny Welbeck who had pulled out of the England squad with a hamstring problem. On the injury front, Emery confirmed Sokratis Papastathopoulos’ problem during his pre-match press conference.
“Only Sokratis had one problem, one small injury. Maybe for Monday, it’s difficult [for him to play]. The others are OK.”
Sokratis’ absence means Rob Holding should continue in central defence, and he will be hoping to continue his impressive run of form. Emery also confirmed Petr Cech’s return from injury but stated that the game against Leicester might have come too soon for him, meaning Bernd Leno could continue in goal for now.
Leno should receive cover from a back-four, featuring Hector Bellerin, with Shodran Mustafi and Holding set to continue their partnership at the heart of the Arsenal defence. Nacho Monreal’s impressive displays so far and his growing influence in the left-back role will see him keep his place ahead of Sead Kolasinac.
In midfield, Emery should continue with the pairing of Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka, with the ,ajor changes being up front in attack. Alex Iwobi, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Welbeck all started against Fulham and were impressive.
However, with Welbeck only recently recovering from a hamstring injury, and the game being played at home, the Arsenal boss could replace those players with a trio of first-choice forwards. Ozil’s return could mean he will start in place of Welbeck on the right side of attack, with Aubameyang replacing Iwobi on the left.
Aaron Ramsey’s impressive cameo against Fulham means he will come back into the side in the No. 10 role and replace Mkhitaryan. The trio will support Alexandre Lacazette, who is the preferred choice for being Arsenal’s central striker against Leicester City.
