Predicted Arsenal lineup vs Aston Villa
Arsenal travel to Villa Park to play Rémi Garde’s Aston Villa side in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon. The north London side will go into the match after their 3-0 win over Olympiacos in the Champions League in Greece, which saw them go through to the round of 16 stages of the tournament. The Gunners like many of their league rivals this season have lacked consistency and will be keen on winning games to keep the title challenge still alive. Arsene Wenger had made his intentions clear to challenge for silverware prior to the start of the current campaign and will try his best to achieve that goal.
Arsenal have managed to win three, a draw and loss in their last five games in all competitions while the home side have just won a single game this season in the league. Currently, the French manager’s side lie at 2nd place in the points table while the hosts are at 20th place.
Here, we will predict the strongest possible lineup Arsene will put up against the Villians.
Predicted lineup
Goalkeeper
Former Chelsea man Petr Cech, who moved to the Emirates in the summer transfer window kept yet another clean sheet in the match in mid-week and should start this weekend as well. The veteran goalie has been the main reason for the Londoners looking defensively much better and Wenger will hope that he can keep the good work up, which would mean that David Ospina will still be on the bench.
Defense
The back line will not be changed for the game with the pairing of Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker at the center while Spaniard Hector Bellerin will feature on the right with Nacho Monreal on the left. Koscielny played really well in the previous match as he led the defensive line really well.
Kieran Gibbs, Mathieu Debuchy, Calum Chambers and Gabriel will all start on the bench and could be used as and when needed.
Midfield
The holding midfield pair of Mathieu Flamini and Aaron Ramsey did a good job in mid-week and Wenger should pick them once again for the same role. Though, Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla were the first choice, they are both out injured and are not expected to return till the new year. Ramsey will be given the job of controlling the midfield with his good movement and passing skills.
Also, Costa Rican winger Joel Campbell has really impressed in recent weeks and will start the game on the left, with Ozil at the center and Theo Walcott on the right in the attacking midfield role. The England international was previously used as a striker before his injury and will now feature regularly on the wings, it would seem as he did on Wednesday night.
Attack
Olivier Giroud scored a hat-trick for his side in Europe in mid-week and would be expected to score more goals in the near future. The French striker has been superb since regaining his place in the starting eleven after Walcott’s injury and it will be quite interesting to see if he can keep up this goalscoring form.