Arsenal FC head to Southampton on Sunday for what will be the first Saints home match with new manager Ralph Hasenhüttl in charge. The honeymoon period, if there even was one, is already over for the new boss at the south coast club, as they need points and they need them rapidly.
They can’t mess around if they are to ward off relegation. For Arsenal, they need every point they can get in order to finish in the top four, a competition that’s as fierce as ever this season. Perhaps this will be the first match that sees Arsenal with a half-time lead this season. Let’s take a look at the fitness situation for both sides.
For the hosts, forward Shane Long remains a long term injury absentee while forward Dany Ings, defender Ryan Bertrand and forward Michael Obafemi are all doubtful.
In switching over to the visitors, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Danny Welbeck and Rob Holding are all out injured while Sokratis is suspended. Defender Shkodran Mustafi faces a late fitness test while attacking midfielder Mesut Ozil is now back in the mix. Same for Laurent Koscielny, who made his first start since May tonight in the UEFA Europa League fixture against FK Qarabag.
Take a look at the starting XI below, which we figured in when making our prediction.
? LAURENT KOSCIELNY STARTS ?
Our skipper makes his return from injury against @FKQarabaghEN – and here's the rest of our #UEL team news… pic.twitter.com/sImYCjoJUj
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) December 13, 2018
Arsenal Predicted line-up vs Southampton
Attack: Alex Iwobi, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Midfield: Lucas Torreira, Granit Xhaka, Sead Kolasinac
Defense: Shkodran Mustafi, Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal; Hector Bellerin
Goalkeeper: Bernd Leno
Arsenal vs Southampton FC FYIs
Kick-off: 3pm (BST), 10am (EST), Sunday December 16th, St Mary’s Stadium
Odds via 888Sport: Arsenal 39/40, Draw 29/10, Southampton 3/1
Prediction: Arsenal 2, Southampton 1
Feel free to post your own starting XI predictions, as well as your best guess as to what the final score will be. Enjoy the match everybody!
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.
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