Arsenal lost their first game of the new Premier League season 2-0 to defending champions Manchester City and the gloom was quickly back at the Emirates after a short summer of sunny skies.
Arsenal looked as much toothless as they had been under Arsene Wenger for all these seasons and the fans were quick to pounce on their management for their failure to bring in adequate players during the summer transfer window.
But Emery will have no respite from the limelight as the Gunners now travel across London to take on Chelsea in what could be a season-defining game for both the manager as well as the club.
Chelsea vs Arsenal: Gunners team news:
Unai Emery will have some thinking to do before he can name his team that will face Chelsea on Saturday and the biggest from for the manager will be to sort out his left-back position.
Sead Kolasinac has been ruled out for two months and even Nacho Monreal is just returning from his injury. This same problem forced the manager to play Maitland-Niles in the left-back position during the Man City game despite him being a midfielder.
But as luck would have it, even Maitland-Niles injured himself during that game which means that Unai Emery might have no other option but to start with Stephan Lichtsteiner – who is a right-back in that problematic area.
The Gunners should also see a major change in midfield as Granit Xhaka is expected to be dropped from the first eleven after a terrible performance against Man City last weekend.
Summer signing Lucas Torreira is expected to make his debut for the club in place of Xhaka and will be accompanied by Guendouzi and Aaron Ramsey.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan will most likely move to the bench too as Emery would want to accommodate both Aubameyang and Lacazette in the attacking third.
This would mean that Lacazette will play through the middle while Aubameyang will play on the right wing while Mesut Ozil starts on the left-hand side.
Chelsea vs Arsenal: Arsenal’s predicted line up:
Goalkeeper: Cech.
Defence: Lichtsteiner, Mustafi, Sokratis, Bellerin.
Midfield: Guendouzi, Torreira, Ramsey.
Attack: Aubameyang, Lacazette, Ozil.
Read: Unai Emery might have a major selection crisis as Arsenal head to Stamford Bridge.
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