Team news
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Dani Ceballos are doubts for the game, while Pablo Mari looks certain to miss out. We are hoping this gives youngsters like Reiss Nelson and Folarin Balogun a chance to at least make the bench.
Vestergaard, Djenepo, Bertrand, Obafemi, Salisu, Tella and Smallbone are out of the game, while Romeu, Redmond and Walker-Peters are doubts. Saints' defence is set to look decimated - we have to take advantage of that.
Predicted Arsenal lineup
We think it will be the simple matter of Gabi Martinelli replacing Aubameyang on the left. Cedric Soares should keep his place after a good performance vs Newcastle. And, although we would love to see Gabriel back alongside Rob Holding, something tells us it will be David Luiz at centre-back again.
Starting XI: Leno, Soares, Luiz, Holding, Tierney, Partey, Xhaka, Saka, Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Lacazette
Stats to know
- Arsenal have only lost 1 of the last 10 league games vs Soton (we were amazed ourselves to find this out).
- The Gunners have conceded just once in their last 5 PL matches.
- In fact, Gabriel's own goal in the cup on Saturday broke an 8-hour run without conceding across all competitions.
- Arteta's men can keep 3 consecutive away clean sheets in the league for the first time since 2013.
- ... and 5 consecutive clean sheets in PL since 2006.
- This season only Man City (6) and Aston Villa (7) have let in fewer away goals than Arsenal (8).
- Saints have only won once in the last 6 PL games ... vs Liverpool.
- They have also failed to score in 4 of the last 5 matches ... except vs Liverpool.
What the managers say
Mikel Arteta (Arsenal.com)
"I think both teams will learn [from Saturday]. I don’t think that any manager or players like to play the same opponent twice, obviously we will take things from Saturday’s game that we will analyse, we have already talked about them and will try to make them better in the next game. The one I really want to change is the result, because I want to win the game."
Ralph Hasenhuttl (via Hampshire Live)
"It’s a new game and I don’t know how much impact [Saturday will have] in the game tomorrow. Definitely, they will want to turn the tables, and for us, with a few changes in the team, we have to show another good performance.
"I think, with the ball, we can play better than last Saturday, because it was definitely not our best performance with the ball. Against the ball it was a very good performance, and against the top six teams this is the more important thing."
