Arsenal v Sheff Utd preview | Confirmed team news, betting odds & prediction

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Arsenal take on Sheffield United at the Emirates this afternoon desperate for a win to help us climb up the table.

The impressive 2-0 victory over Manchester United on New Year’s Day gave the squad a much-needed boost and we followed it up with a narrow 1-0 win over Leeds United in the third round of the FA Cup.

However, old habits crept in when we threw away a lead to draw 1-1 at Crystal Palace last weekend. Sure, we ended the match with 10 men but we should have put the game to bed in the first half.

That result has left Arsenal sitting 10th in the Premier League and a whopping 11 points off fourth-placed Chelsea so realistically a top four finish is beyond us this season.

Mikel Arteta will still be determined to have a positive second half to the campaign though as we need to put the building blocks in place for seasons to come, and obviously we still have the Europa League and FA Cup to play for.

Today’s match is going to be a tough test as Sheffield United are flying this year and come to north London sitting sixth in the table and four points ahead of Arsenal so we’ll need to be at our best to get a result

Team news

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang begins a three-match suspension following his sending off at Palace. Reiss Nelson is pushing for a recall but I hope Gabriel Martinelli is given the nod on the left wing.

Hector Bellerin has been in full training this week after recovering from a hamstring injury and a late decision will be made over his involvement but Arteta has suggested the Spaniard may not be ready to start just yet.

The team news update on Arsenal.com also confirmed last week that Sead Kolasinac is struggling with a thigh injury that he picked up in training. With Kieran Tierney still out with a shoulder injury, Bukayo Saka is set to start at left-back today.

Calum Chambers is facing up to nine months out following surgery on a knee ligament injury but Lucas Torreira is expected to be fit despite being forced off against Palace with a knock.

As for Sheffield United, they are in the fortunate position to have a fully fit squad to choose from – something Arsenal can only dream about!

Preferred line-up

Betting & Score prediction

Understandably, Arsenal are the bookies favourites to win the game. You can get 1/3 on the Gunners to take all three points at Bitcasino while the draw is 4/1 and Sheffield United are 15/2 – which is huge odds considering they are above us in the table and are in much better form. Arsenal also lost the reverse fixture 1-0 at Bramall Lane back in October and Sheffield United were much better than us that night so 15/2 is tempting for any non-Arsenal fans.

However, that was under the old Unai Emery regime and Arteta has certainly improved us in recent games so I’m expecting a much better performance today. We have a terrific record against the Blades at home as we’ve won 8 and drawn 1 of our last 9 meetings in north London but we’ve been pretty woeful at the Emirates this season having won just one of our last seven matches. However, that victory was our last match against Man Utd and I’m expecting Arteta to try and make the Emirates a fortress again, starting with a narrow win this afternoon. Sheffield United have one of the meanest defences in the league and we don’t have Aubameyang, so I think it will be a tight game with Arsenal just edging it.

Arsenal 1-0 Sheffield United

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