Manchester United are set to take on Arsenal in the fourth round of this season’s FA Cup at the Emirates Stadium this evening.
Both sides comfortably progressed from our ties in the previous round against lower league opposition.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has already announced he will make a couple of changes from the Premier League side that beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 last weekend. And here is the Arsenal side we think Unai Emery will send out against us:
Goalkeeper: Petr Cech
The experienced goalkeeper has been playing backup to Bernd Leno in the Premier League in recent months and has announced his retirement for the end of the season. Petr Cech appears to be Arsenal’s goalkeeper for the FA Cup this season though.
Defence: Stephan Lichtsteiner, Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Nacho Monreal
Hector Bellerin is expected to be out for the next 6-9 months after rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his leg knee in last weekend’s 2-0 victory over Chelsea. The experienced Stephan Lichtsteiner should keep his place from the side that beat Blackpool at the start of the month, though moving out to his natural right-back position. Nacho Monreal could come in for Sead Kolasinac on the left-hand side whilst I think the Gunners boss will want a strong centre-back partnership – therefore Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos could start.
Midfield: Matteo Guendouzi, Granit Xhaka; Joe Willock, Mesut Ozil, Alex Iwobi
Joe Willock scored a brace in an excellent performance at Blackpool so there’s a good chance the youngster will start down the right wing. Danny Welbeck and Henrikh Mkhitaryan are both sidelined too. Mesut Ozil could get a rare start having fallen out-of-favour with Emery. Alex Iwobi to start down the left. In front of the back four we could see Lucas Torreira rested and Matteo Guendouzi partnering Granit Xhaka once again.
Striker: Alexandre Lacazette
Alexandre Lacazette has played second-fiddle to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang a lot this season but I’m convinced the French striker will get the nod for this one. He works his socks off in leading the line and scores goal – he’ll be a real threat for our back four.
Here is the Arsenal team on paper:
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