Arsenal return to England after their impressive midweek performance in the Europa League. They will be at home to Fulham in the London derby. Who are the players that will be missing out?
In the second leg of the Europa League quarterfinals against Slavia Prague, the North London club scored a comfortable win. Reaching the semi-finals will give the team a huge boost of confidence and momentum heading back into domestic play.
Two players who will definitely miss out are defenders David Luiz and Kieran Tierney. Another big absentee is going to be captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who is still down with malaria. Having been hospitalized this week, he won’t play any part in the London derby here.
The other player who is a major doubt for this game is Norwegian midfielder Martin Odegaard who has been out for a couple of games with an ankle problem. There is also likely to be some rotation by manager Mikel Arteta to give others a chance in this clash.
Boosted by back-to-back wins, the team will look to assert their dominance against the Cottagers. On the other side, the visitors are in a relegation battle, which will be extra motivation for them to win the game.
With the likes of Nicolas Pepe and Bukayo Saka, the hosts have enough pace and creativity to cause problems to any opposing defence. This duo in particular will be the ones to watch out for on Sunday.
Moving Granit Xhaka to the defence has proven to be a good transition, as it gives the team more competitive balance.
This was evident in the games against Sheffield and Slavia where the structure of the defence looked more compact and solid.
Despite being far away from the top four, Arsenal have a chance to end the league season on a strong note. A win will not be easy, but the Gunners have enough in the tank to overcome the challenge that Fulham possess.
Arteta will be looking towards another comfortable win with the attack clicking once again.