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Arsenal vs Everton: Preview, Team News, Predictions and Likely Playing XI

Arsenal can move to the top of the table if they manage to get a result against Everton at the Emirates in the late kickoff on Saturday. The Toffees, on the other hand, sit seven places below second-positioned Arsenal in the standings and as the team are without a win in two matches and an upset in North London will help to raise the morale of the team. Everton were beaten by Manchester United last week while Arsenal are coming into this match full confidence after defeating Bayern Munich on Tuesday in the Champions League.

Arsene Wenger
Arsene Wenger

The Gunners went into Tuesday night’s clash against Bayern Munich fully aware that only a victory would keep their hopes of advancing to last 16 for the 16th consecutive season alive, but Arsene Wenger’s side defied all expectation of securing a famous 2-0 victory courtesy of a disciplined performance. In the Premier League, after a crushing 2-0 defeat to West Ham United on the opening day of the season, Arsenal have been almost faultless in terms of results. They have won six of their last nine league games and are currently on a three-game winning streak following triumphs over Leicester City, Manchester United and Watford. Arsenal suffered a big blow as midfielder Aaron Ramsey is expected to be on the sidelines for around a month after picking up a hamstring injury. Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky all remain out of contention due to long-term injuries, as does goalkeeper David Ospina.

Aaron Ramsey

Everton will be hoping to bounce back from their defeat to Manchester United, interesting they are still unbeaten on their travels this season. Their goal scoring record at the emirates isn’t too encouraging having scored just two goals in their last four matches there.  The shining light for them this season have been Romelu Lukaku who is performing on a consistent basis with five goals and two assists in his last nine games and Ross Barkley who seems to have rediscovered his best form after slightly losing his way last season. Martinez confirmed that Tom Cleverley has a chance of returning to the side after having a run-out in the Under-21 team in midweek, but it might be only a place on the bench. The same goes for Steven Pienaar and Bryan Oviedo while Leighton Baines is close to returning following an ankle injury.

Ross BArkley
Ross Barkley

Predicted Arsenal Line-up: Cech; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin, Flamini; Cazorla, Ozil, Sanchez and Giroud

Predicted Everton Line-up: Howard; Coleman, Jagielka, Stones, Galloway; McCarthy, Barry; Lennon, Barkley, Naismith and Lukaku

Predicted Scoreline: 3-1

Key Stats

Petr Cech has the best saves to shots ratio of any goalkeeper in the Premier League so far in 2015-16 (82.1 percent).

Cech has now kept 167 Premier League clean sheets, just two away from David James’ record (169) in the competition.

Olivier Giroud has netted four goals in the Gunners’ last four meetings with Everton in all competitions.