Match to be played on Sunday 4th May 2014 at 13:30. Venue: Emirates Stadium, London.
Arsene Wenger will be feeling much more confident over his side’s chances of finishing in the top four by the end of the season after an impressive win against Newcastle earlier this week.
This weekend presents a different challenge altogether as the Baggies travel to the Emirates Stadium. West Brom have played well away from home this season as demonstrated by their victory at Old Trafford.
Here’s the side Wenger may go with.
GK – Wojciech Szczesny
The Pole has been one of the most consistent players in Arsenal’s team so far this season. He keeps his place.
RB – Bacary Sagna
Speculation over the Frenchman’s future rolls on but he remains a fine right-back. He injects real experience into the defence.
CB – Per Mertesacker
The German is starting to looking more like the player who impressed over the first half of the campaign. He’ll be important in terms of dealing with the physical threat that West Brom boast.
CB – Laurent Koscielny
The Frenchman injects a bit of pace into the defence, which allows the Gunners to play a higher line and take a few more risks.
LB – Nacho Monreal
With Kieran Gibbs still out of action, it means that Monreal is likely to continue at left-back. Defensively he can produce a solid 90 minutes and he gets forward well to create extra width.
RM – Santi Cazorla
Cazorla can start anywhere across the midfield but he’ll always drift into the middle. When Sagna gets forward, that allows him to tuck inside.
DM – Mikel Arteta
Arteta will be the man who protects the back four. He not only breaks up the play but is always eager to receive the ball before turning to start waves of attacks.
CM – Aaron Ramsey
Ramsey won’t be playing at the World Cup so Wenger has no reason to rest the Welshman. He’s been arguably Arsenal’s best and most impressive player this season.
AM – Mesut Ozil
Ozil looked much more like the player the Gunners paid £42 million for earlier this week. He’ll roam those gaps in behind the main striker, looking for space to exploit and passes to feed in.
LM – Lukas Podolski
It must be very tempting for Wenger to move Podolski into a central attacking role at the moment but while he’s effective on the left, there’s no reason to move him.
ST – Olivier Giroud
Giroud should lead the attack. He got a goal against Newcastle so he should be confident heading into this game as he looks to maintain some momentum.
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