Arsenal face Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Alexandre Lacazette likely to start.
Unai Emery will be looking to put the winless run behind him and secure a win over Bournemouth to regain control in the race for top four. Arsenal have somewhat slipped in the standings and currently sit 5th courtesy some disappointing results which have seen the Gunners drop six points in the last three games.
As for the team news, Nacho Monreal is still out with a hamstring problem, while Sead Kolasinac’s status is somewhat unclear, meaning Ainsley Maitland-Niles could start for the first time in the Premier League since injuring his knee at the beginning of the season.
? @UnaiEmery_ – "Our idea is to start with the under-23s"@6_LKOSCIELNY nearing return to match action with #AFCU23…
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) November 23, 2018
In attack, it looks like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette have proven their fitness and are penciled for a start. The big news for Arsenal though, is the return of Laurent Koscielny, although the defender is still quite short of match fitness.
However, Unai Emery did confirm during his pre-match press conference that the Arsenal captain is close to returning to first-team action starting with involvement with the Under 23 side. The manager also conveyed a general summary of injuries and recoveries.
“Today, we trained this morning with the players and they are okay. Only Danny Welbeck’s injury. It is a big injury and Nacho Monreal is not okay for Sunday. Laurent Koscielny is close to start with the group and start, little by little, taking minutes. That is good news. I forget also, Stephan Lichtsteiner is beginning to train with us but he is maybe not okay for Sunday”
“Koscielny started to train with us, every day, one month ago. The process with him is that in this international break, it is to finish training with us every day to start playing, little by little. First, our idea is to start with the Under-23s, but also, these two weeks training with us, I am looking at him. He is well, with good performance, good feeling and I think he, today, is close to also play with us. “
Bernd Leno will continue in goal, especially after his heroic performance against Wolves, meaning Petr Cech should be on the bench once again. Hector Bellerin will keep his place at right-back while Sokratis Papastathopoulos could return to the starting lineup in a Premier League game for the first time in over a month, replacing Rob Holding. Shkodran Mustafi will partner the Greek defender.
The left-back position has been a problematic one in the past few weeks. With Monreal still on the sidelines, as confirmed by Emery, Maitland Niles should make the starting lineup. In midfield, Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka will be preferred to start, with Matteo Guendouzi set to remain on the bench.
Mesut Ozil should take his place as the No. 10 and keep Aaron Ramsey on the bench, again. Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s performance from the bench against Wolves will allow him a chance in the starting lineup, with Aubameyang on the left side of attack. Lacazette should be lead the line for Arsenal.
