Arsenal managed to overcome the Leeds United test in midweek in the Carabao Cup, progressing to the next round but Mikel Arteta’s side have no time to celebrate as they must swiftly shift their focus back to the Premier League.
Arsenal have been in a fine run of form in the league recently so they will be really buoyant to face Leicester City during the weekend.
The Gunners started the 21/22 campaign in the worst possible way, sitting at the bottom of the table at one point in time. But since then, the players have pulled up their socks and have upped their levels. Mikel Arteta’s side go into this Saturday’s match being undefeated in their last 6 league matches.
The North London side are tied on points with Leicester meaning a win this weekend will help them move above Brendan Rodgers’ side, into the top half of the table. The momentum is undoubtedly with the Gunners and the manager will have an upper hand since he had used a second-fiddle side against Leeds.
Arsenal injuries and team news vs Leicester City:
Aaron Ramsdale will come back into goal after being rested in midweek but there’s a slight question mark over Ben White. White started vs Leeds but had to be taken off in the 55th minute.
While there were fears of an injury but the Arsenal boss has revealed that a viral bug had made the defender ill. Pablo Mari is also suffering from the same problem.
“No, there is a bug going on,” Arteta said after the match. “We lost Pablo today as he wasn’t feeling great and Ben had it as well in the last day or two. He wasn’t feeling great, so we decided to take him off.”
Ben White has a few days to recover from this illness but if he’s not fully fit then Rob Holding will have to partner Gabriel in central defence.
Martin Odegaard and Kieran Tierney both missed out in midweek and the manager has claimed that the duo are suffering from injury setbacks.
“They were both out with two different injuries,” Arteta said.
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“They tried yesterday but they didn’t feel great, they wanted to be involved but they didn’t feel good enough to be selected today and hopefully in the next few days they can feel better and be available for Leicester.”
Tavares has done really well in the absence of Tierney and if the Scottish international is not fit then Mikel Arteta will opt for the same selection which he did vs Aston Villa last week.
Granit Xhaka remains on the sidelines with a knee injury meaning Thomas Partey and Lokonga will pair up in central midfield. Elneny and Maitland-Niles started vs Leeds so they will move to the bench.
If Odegaard is not available in time then Emile Smith Rowe will operate in the No 10 role while Bukayo Saka replaces Nicolas Pepe on the right flank.
Lacazette has suddenly moved up the pecking order(rightly so) and he’s expected to lead the line against Leicester City which means Aubameyang will once again be playing down the left flank. A wider role is not the ideal position for the Gabon international but there’s no denying that his game goes up a notch whenever he’s linking up with Lacazette.
Arsenal predicted line up vs Leicester City:
Predicted Starting Line up(4-2-3-1): Ramsdale; Tomiyasu, White/Holding, Gabriel; Tavares; Thomas Partey, Lokonga, Odegaard/Smith Rowe; Aubameyang, Lacazette, Bukayo Saka.
