Southampton travels to Arsenal for a match-up of two sides both on the outside looking in at their respective goals. For the visitors, they currently reside in the drop zone, and need to make up at least a point on the 16th place side in order to ensure safety. For the second season in a row, Saints are fighting a battle against the very real threat of potential relegation.
For the hosts, they sit one point behind Manchester United for the fourth and final UEFA Champions League position. As if they won’t be fired up enough already, the Gunners will also be looking to avenge a shocking and embarrassing loss at the south coast club in the first half of the season.
So now that we know all that’s at stake in this one, let’s take a look at the fitness situation for both teams.
Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny is one of the greatest comeback stories in all of football this past year. He’s back in the first team after having recovered from a torn Achilles, but he left in obvious pain after an hour in Arsenal’s win over Bate Borisov in the UEFA Europa League Thursday night.
Replaced by Sokratis, there were concerns he could be out injured again for another extended period of time. However, Arsenal manager Unai Emery gave encouraging news in his post-match news conference.
“I think it’s a precaution,” the first years Gunners boss said.
“I hope he can be okay Sunday. It is muscular, it’s only a precaution because he was starting to feel not good.”
Arsenal will of course also be without their three long term injury absentees- Danny Welbeck, Rob Holding and Hector Bellerin.
When the Saints go marching in (sorry, really I’m very very sorry for doing that) to the Emirates, they could have a trio of long-term injury absentees back available for selection.
According to Physio Room, Stuart Armstrong, Mario Lemina and Michael Obafemi could all be in contention for this one. The last two listed in that triad have been out since December while Armstrong has missed most of this month.
The same report states that Danny Ings could return as early as next week.
Arsenal FC vs Southampton FC FYIs
Kickoff: Sunday, February 24, 2pm, Emirates Stadium
Arsenal FC and Southampton Starting XI Predictions: go to this link
Google Result Probability: Arsenal win 64%, Draw 21%, Southampton win 15%
Odds via Odds Checker: Arsenal 8/15, Draw 15/4, Southampton 6/1
Prediction: Arsenal 2, Southampton 2
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.