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[Image] No Lacazette or Ozil: How Arsenal should line-up vs Bournemouth

By mac14 on January 26, 2020

Arsenal take on Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium in the FA Cup on Monday evening. Here is the line-up I’d like Mikel Arteta to select…

Holding to start

Rob Holding has been eased back into action slowly since returning from his knee injury but this is a great opportunity for him to get some much-needed minutes under his belt. He was superb before his injury and we could certainly do with Holding getting back to that sort of form soon.

David Luiz is suspended but Sokratis is available again after recovering from illness so I’d start Holding alongside the Greek international and consign Shkodran Mustafi to the bench where he belongs.

Hector Bellerin made an impressive comeback against Chelsea but I would give Ainsley Maitland-Niles a run out tomorrow. Sead Kolasinac and Kieran Tierney remain on the sidelines so teenage winger Bukayo Saka will once again deputise at left-back.

Ceballos given chance

There are widespread rumours circulating that Dani Ceballos is pushing to leave the club this month after struggling for game-time recently. He’s only just returned from a lengthy injury so I’m not sure what his issue really is but I’d be gutted to see him leave. Ceballos showed what he’s capable of against Burnley and we need him to produce that kind of performance on a regular basis.

I think this is a good chance to give Ceballos a start and play him in his best position in a midfield three. Hopefully he can rediscover some form and boost his confidence which may persuade him to see out the remainder of his loan.

Arsenal have very little left to play for in the league as the top four is realistically gone so we need to take the FA Cup seriously. However, we also need to give fringe players some game-time so it’s a balancing act for Arteta to deal with.

I hope we keep Lucas Torreira in the side as this will be a tricky away game at Bournemouth and we need his presence in front of the defence. Matteo Guendouzi’s form has dropped dramatically recently so I’d stick with Granit Xhaka tomorrow.

Martinelli starts

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will serve the final game of his three-match ban so Gabriel Martinelli should get another start and hopefully he can continue his excellent form following his superb goal against Chelsea last week.

Reiss Nelson is out for a few weeks with a hamstring injury so Nicolas Pepe will continue on the right-wing and we really need a performance from him tomorrow as his form has been so inconsistent.

Mesut Ozil can get a rest with Ceballos starting while I’d also give Eddie Nketiah a start. Arsenal have decided he’s not leaving on loan so he needs minutes and this is a good opportunity for him to show what he can do.

Alexandre Lacazette has been struggling for goals and maybe he could do with a breather, so I’d stick him on the bench tomorrow night.

Here is how I hope Arsenal line-up: