It sounds insane to describe the fourth game of any team’s Premier League campaign as a ‘must-win’, but that’s the sort of territory Arsenal find themselves in this weekend.
The Gunners are set to face fellow strugglers Norwich City on Saturday, and it’s fair to say this is a game Mikel Arteta needs to win in order to protect his job.
The Spaniard’s side sit bottom of the Premier League after three matches, and if they fail to beat the Canaries this weekend then serious questions will have to be asked.
Of course, in order to get their first win of the season, Arteta needs to get his team selection spot on, and with that in mind, we’ve had a go at predicting the Gunners’ starting XI for this one.
We think that Arsenal will field what is close to their strongest team for this one.
Ben White and Gabriel Magalhaes start together at centre-back for the first time after both players got over their respective problems, while Takehiro Tomiyasu makes his Arsenal debut after being granted a work permit.
Albert Sambi Lokonga and Thomas Partey start in the midfield, but with Mohamed Elneny and Granit Xhaka ruled out of this fixture, we expect to see young Charlie Patino on the bench here.
Emile Smith Rowe hasn’t been feeling well this week, so we think Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Nicolas Pepe will start just behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who spearheads the attack.
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