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Preview: Bournemouth vs Arsenal, team news, Sanchez to start + prediction

By on January 13, 2018

aaron ramsey arsenal

Arsenal go searching for our first win in four games when we take on Bournemouth at Dean Court on Sunday afternoon.

Last weekend’s FA Cup defeat at Nottingham Forest was a huge disappointment but we responded with a solid performance to secure a 0-0 draw at Chelsea in the first leg of our Carabao Cup semi final.

Unfortunately we’ve drawn three of our last four league games which has left us sitting sixth in the table and five points off the top four so we have to win today or risk being cut off.

Last season’s fixture saw us come from 3-0 down to salvage a point and you wouldn’t bet against that type of game again tomorrow but hopefully we’ve learned some lessons [we haven’t].

Team News

Aaron Ramsey is back in contention after recovering from a hamstring injury that’s kept him out for the last month but Olivier Giroud, Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac remain out.

Jack Wilshere limped off against Chelsea in midweek with an ankle injury but thankfully it’s not serious and he could be available tomorrow afternoon.

Mesut Ozil will also have a late fitness test after missing the League Cup game with a knee injury while Petr Cech will be recalled after being rested in midweek.

Bournemouth will hand late fitness tests to Josh King and Junior Stanislas but Jermaine Defoe and Tyrone Mings remain out.

Preferred line-up

If Ramsey and Wilshere are both fit then I’d love to see us go with a 4-3-3 formation with them paired in midfield in front of Xhaka. Ozil plays if fit but it will be interesting to see what Wenger does with Sanchez.

There is a lot of speculation over his future right now and you could argue that he won’t be in the right mindset to play. However, given our lack of top quality players to come in, I think we have to stick with Alexis. As long as he’s still an Arsenal player, he plays.

This would be my line-up if Wilshere and Ozil are fit:

Prediction

Bournemouth are 16th in the table and one point above the relegation zone so we simply have to win these games if we’re to finish in the top four. The hosts can play some decent football and will cause us problems but hopefully we’ll have too much for them going forward. I’m backing us to come away with all three points. Bournemouth 1-3 Arsenal