Arsenal are facing Newcastle United in the Emirates FA Cup third round this weekend. Having recently moved to a hybrid 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 formation that saw us win 3 games in a raw, Mikel Arteta will want to put up a show to continue that great run of form. We will therefore expect a very strong line up from the manager.

Its an opportunity to rest key players who’ve been playing a lot of minutes and give chances to fringe players but it’s equally important to keep some of them in the line up to keep the balance of the new system.

STARTING 11

In goal, Bernd Leno. Runarrson had a horror show a few weeks ago in the Carabao Cup against Man City. Matt Macey is expected to leave the club permanently in the next few days. If we want to win the game Leno has to start.

With a tough Premier League game coming ver quickly on Thursday we will have to rest our entire back four because they played a lot of minutes of late and will benefit from a rest. In the right back position we will go with Cedric Soares and in the left-back position Maitland-Niles. We will go with a center back pairing of David Luiz and Gabriel. Should Gabriel not be able to feature we will have to look at the option of Mustafi, Chambers or one of Holding and Mari.

We have to bring back Thomas Partey in midfield. It will be a good game for him to get back up to speed. Next to him we go with Elneny, its very important game and the two of them can lockdown the midfield. In the number 10 we continue with Smith Rowe, this is to retain that balance in our new system.

On the right wing we bring back Pepe, he deserve some minutes after being left out of the team for the past few games. Willian is also a possibility to feature in that position. On the left hand side we bring back Martinelli he need more minutes to build his fitness and this is a perfect game for that. Up front in the number 9 position we go with Aubameyang he need a chance to establish himself in the number 9 position in the new system and get back to firing again. Its also an opportunity to give Lacazette a rest he’s been very brilliant in the past few games.

Players like Willian, Nelson, Nketiah, Willock and Ceballos could feature from the bench.