Arsenal FC have to be feeling very good this weekend, as they’re both coming off a victory and getting their brand name star player back. Mesut Ozil missed this past Saturday’s win over West Ham United due to an illness (at least that is the official word), but he has recovered now and trained all week with the rest of the squad.
We predict he returns to the first team when ninth place Arsenal travels to the capital of Wales, and takes on 15th place Cardiff City. Let’s take a look at who might be joining him on the pitch during kick-off of this fixture.
The Sports Bank’s Arsenal FC Starting XI Prediction
Forwards: Mesut Ozil, Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Midfielders: Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira, Aaron Ramsey
Defenders: Stephan Lichsteiner, Sokraitis Papastathopoulos, Shokdran Mustafi, Hector Bellerin
Goalkeeper: Petr Cech
Kickoff Time: 1.30 p.m. BST, Sunday, Sept 2
Match preview, injury report: go to this link
Sixth place finishers last season, Arsenal currently sport 5/2 to 9/4 odds of finishing top four and getting back into Europe next season.
Prediction: Arsenal 4, Cardiff 2
Arsenal are on the right track, but man, do they still have plenty of room for improvement. Getting the first win of the Emery era last weekend was huge, and now it’s time for them to start building some momentum. Going against an injury plagued and recently promoted side provides a tremendous opportunity for another win.
Feel free to post your own Cardiff and/or Arsenal starting XI predictions, as well as your final score predictions. Enjoy the match everyone!
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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