It’s time to put things right after a disappointing FA Cup knockout in the weekend. We face Southampton again but this time in the Premier League. Our objective is to climb up the table and we have an opportunity to close in on 4 points from Top 4. Arteta rested most of our consistent first 11 and they should be fresh for this game. Particularly Tierney, we miss him every time he’s not involved.

The club is determine to bring in a left back before the window shuts next week. This will help us especially when the Europa League returns.

STARTING 11

GK

Bernd Leno played a lot of minutes of late but Matt Ryan only just got here. There’s no way Arteta will even look at Runarsson so Leno stays in goal.

DF:

Cedric Soares should continue in the right back position. He has done nothing wrong so far and he offers more than Bellerin. Gabriel had a shocking game in the weekend and I think he’s not yet at his best considering that he was out for some time, so that means Holding and Luiz will continue in the center back position. Tierney was rested for this game and there’s no other option to play in the left back position so he comes back.

MF:

In midfield, Arteta will continue the experimental pairing of Xhaka and Partey this is his most trusted pairing. Ceballos is back in training and he could get a look in provided that Xhaka played a full 90 in the last two games but I don’t see Arteta changing that. Smith Rowe should come back in the number 10 position and with the arrival of Ødegaard, Willian should never play there again.

FD:

The attacking three is where we might see some changes because there’s a big possibility that Aubameyang will not be involved. It’s a very difficult guess because one of Martinelli, Willian or Pepe could take up his place. If it’s Pepe, Saka will probably play from the left and if it’s one of the other two he will continue at the right wing where he has been brilliant. Lacazette has not scored in the past 4 games but he play an important role in linking our play so he should get the nod ahead of Nketiah who had a disappointing game in the weekend.