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[Image] No Aubameyang, Ozil starts | Arsenal’s best line-up to face Man Utd

By on March 9, 2019

alexandre lacazette

Arsenal can climb into the top four and to within just one point of third-placed Tottenham with a win over Manchester United on Sunday afternoon. This is the line-up I’d like Unai Emery to select…

Goalkeeper: Leno

Bernd Leno was given the night off against Rennes in the Europa League on Thursday night. Despite conceding three goals, Petr Cech actually played pretty well but Leno should be recalled tomorrow.

Defence: Lichtsteiner, Sokratis, Koscielny, Monreal

I think we should stick with a back four against Man Utd with Laurent Koscielny once again starting alongside Sokratis in the heart of defence. Shkodran Mustafi has played at right-back recently but he’s too much of a liability – as he proved against Tottenham – so the boss has a big decision to make.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles is an option but Emery clearly doesn’t want to use him at right-back as he’s been overlooked since returning to fitness and the boss even opted to stick Henrikh Mkhitaryan in defence after Sokratis was sent off on Thursday night. As weird as it sounds, I think Stephan Lichtsteiner may be the best bet for Arsenal against United as he was actually playing pretty well before picking up a knock ahead of the Spurs game.

Sead Kolasinac has found himself on the bench in the last couple of games and as much as he offers going forward, I do think we’re more solid with Nacho Monreal at left-back in a back four so I’d stick with the Spaniard.

Midfield: Xhaka, Guendouzi

Lucas Torreira is suspended for the game against Manchester United so Matteo Guendouzi is set to start alongside Granit Xhaka in the middle of midfield. I actually think Aaron Ramsey would be a decent option alongside Xhaka but Emery clearly has no intention of playing the Welshman in a deeper role so it’s not really worth discussing.

mesut ozil arsenal 2018

Attack: Ozil, Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Lacazette

Alexandre Lacazette returns after being suspended in the Europa League on Thursday night. In an ideal world we’d have both him and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang starting in the same side but it just doesn’t seem feasible in the big games.

Aubameyang is obviously a terrific goalscorer but I actually think Lacazette offers us much more in terms of all-round contribution so I’d start the Frenchman up front and use Auba as an impact sub against United.

I thought Mesut Ozil was playing well before Sokratis got sent off against Rennes and I’d like to see him keeping his place. Emery will probably play Ramsey in the advanced midfield role but I think we should trust Ozil to show up against United. He doesn’t often hide for Arsenal in the big home games.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has been in great form recently so he deserves to keep his place in attack while I’d go with Alex Iwobi on the left as he’s also been playing well and offers us balance in the side.

Denis Suarez will once again have to make do with a place on the bench and time is running out for him to make an impression at Arsenal. He’s barely kicked a ball since arriving on loan from Barcelona and to be honest, the move has been a waste of time for all concerned so far.

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

football formations