Arsenal host Monaco in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday. The Gunners have won eight of their last nine matches in all competitions and their winning run at the Emirates stretches to nine consecutive games which started in November.
Arsenal finished second in the group for the third season in a row and were somewhat fortunate to draw Monaco, avoiding some of the relatively bigger European clubs. Arsene Wenger will welcome back his previous club where he won the Ligue 1 title almost two decades ago, though he will find the going tough against a resolute Monaco side who have conceded just once in their six matches, keeping an impressive five clean sheets.
Their league form has been erratic, however, winning just two of their last five matches but they are also very difficult to beat, losing only once in their last 10 league games. Leonardo Jardim’s side prevailed in a tricky group consisting of Bayer Leverkusen, Zenit St Petersburg and Benfica and find themselves in 4th place in League 1 with 43 points from 25 games.
Arsenal are once again embroiled in a battle for the Champions League places along with 4 other teams who are separated by just five points and are currently 3rd with 48 points from 26 Premier League games.
Arsenal vs Monaco Team News:
Arsenal: David Ospina is a doubt with a back problem which means that Wojciech Szczesny could be re-instated in goal.
Wenger will be without Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey and Oxlade-Chamberlain while Mathieu Debuchy and Abou Diaby are doubts.
Group stage Form: LWWDWW
Group Standing: 2
Predicted Line Up: David Ospina; Calum Chambers, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Nacho Monreal; Santiago Cazorla, Francis Coquelin; Danny Welbeck, Mesut Özil, Alexis Sánchez; Olivier Giroud
Possible Formation: 4-2-3-1
Monaco: The French side will be without the likes of Andrea Raggi, Ricardo Carvalho and Tiemoue Bakayoko who are all currently injured while Layvin Kurzawa is a major doubt.
Jeremy Toulalan is suspended meaning João Moutinho and Geoffrey Kondogbia will operate in midfield.
Group stage Form: WDDLWW
Group Standing: 1
Predicted Line Up: Maarten Stekelenburg; Fabinho, Aymen Abdennour, Wallace, Layvin Kurzawa; Geoffrey Kondogbia, João Moutinho; Dirar, Silva, Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco; Dimitar Berbatov
Possible Formation: 4-2-3-1
Arsenal vs Monaco Prediction:
Monaco have had a solid defensive approach to the Champions League so far though they haven’t been scoring a lot too. They will come out to stifle Arsenal from playing their free flowing game, but the Gunners should sneak away with a narrow win. 1-0 to the home side.