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[Image] Ozil starts, Iwobi misses out | Arsenal’s best line-up to face Bournemouth

By on February 26, 2019

Arsenal can tighten our grip on fourth place with another win over Bournemouth at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night. This is the line-up I’d like Unai Emery to select…

Goalkeeper: Leno

Bernd Leno was superb during the 2-0 win over Southampton at the weekend as he made a number of solid saves to protect the clean sheet. No doubt he deserves to keep his place ahead of Petr Cech tomorrow.

Defence: Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Koscielny, Kolasinac

Stephan Lichtsteiner has been surprisingly solid over the past couple of games but he limped off against Southampton with a back injury and is a doubt to take on Bournemouth. There is no point rushing him back as Ainsley Maitland-Niles is back in contention after recovering from illness so I’d start him at right-back.

Laurent Koscielny is in-line for a recall after being named on the bench on Sunday having made a swift recovery from a minor calf issue. I’d like to see him start tomorrow night and Shkodran Mustafi should be the man to make way with Sokratis keeping his place.

Nacho Monreal will be hoping for a recall but Sead Kolasinac has been excellent for much of the season and has become vital to our attacking play down the left so he should keep his place against the Cherries.

Midfield: Torreira, Xhaka

Arsenal looked a lot more solid in midfield with Lucas Torreira back alongside Granit Xhaka so I don’t see how Emery can split them up. The enjoyed an excellent partnership during our unbeaten run at the start of the season so I think we should give them a chance to rekindle that relationship.

mesut ozil arsenal 2018

Unfortunately that means Matteo Guendouzi missing out but he’ll be a great option to have on the bench.

Attack: Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Aubameyang, Lacazette

Mesut Ozil was benched against Southampton but I hope we see him back in the eleven tomorrow. He was impressive against BATE when he started and made an impact off the bench on Sunday. There is no denying we’re far more fluid going forward when he plays so I’d start him against Bournemouth.

Aaron Ramsey should drop out after a disappointing display at the weekend but Henrikh Mkhitaryan deserves to keep his place after one of his best performances in an Arsenal shirt. He divides opinion among the fans but he’s got obvious talent and seems to work well in Emery’s system.

Alex Iwobi was in good form again on Sunday but he limped off with a calf injury. It seems he trained today but I wouldn’t risk him from the start as there’s no point aggravating the issue further.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could therefore come back in to the attack and although I prefer him through the middle, we look more balanced with just one up front so Auba can play from the wing with Alexandre Lacazette starting through the middle.

This is the starting eleven I hope we’ll see:

football formations

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