Arsenal could field the same lineup for the seventh league game running as Mikel Arteta looks for consistency and an edge over Manchester City.
VAR managed to dominate headlines after an error-stricken weekend from the officials. The ramifications were damaging for Arsenal, who dropped two valuable points against Brentford ahead of the much-awaited meeting with Manchester City on Wednesday night.
Mikel Arteta was unhappy with the decisions but appreciated PGMOL’s efforts to clarify those errors and their apology. VAR was the hot topic during his pre-match press conference, and the Arsenal boss had his say.
Arteta said, “After analysing the images, we [had] a huge anger and disappointment because that wasn’t a human error – that was a big, big, big [case of] not understanding the job. That’s unacceptable.”
“That cost us two points. That’s not going to be restored, so we’re going to have to find those two points somewhere else in the league. But at the same time, we appreciate the apology and the explanation, which was really open, to be fair.”
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“We’ve got a lot of sympathy from a lot of colleagues in the industry, in football, that we cannot play with the integrity of the game in the way that we do. That’s it. We have to move on. It has made the players, the staff and our fans even stronger and with more desire to pass this hurdle that they put on us. We are ready for it.”
As for the team, there are no concerns with player fitness. Arteta will most likely name an unchanged starting lineup for the seventh straight league game. Aaron Ramsdale will start in goal with the same back four of Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
Thomas Partey is the key cog in Arteta’s midfield. And all eyes will be on his ability to control the game’s tempo. Granit Xhaka and Martin Odegaard will play either side of the Ghanaian midfielder. The latter will operate in that advanced space behind the front three.
While there is a debate about whether Arteta should start with Leandro Trossard on the left-hand side, Gabriel Martinelli remains the current favourite to feature there. Eddie Nketiah will continue to lead the line for Arsenal, with Bukayo Saka completing the Gunners’ frontline.
Predicted Arsenal XI: Ramsdale; Ben White, Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Zinchenko; Odegaard, Partey, Xhaka; Saka, Nketiah, Martinelli
