Arsenal vs Manchester City: Predicted starting XI for massive opener

Arsenal’s season, and Unai Emery’s North London career, kicks off against reigning champions Manchester City. Here’s how they could line up.

Arsenal‘s preseason has come to a close after having suffered just one loss (in open door friendlies), and that came against Atletico Madrid in penalties. The Gunners successfully dispatched Chelsea (on penalties), PSG and, most recently Lazio.

All of the matches showcased strengths and weaknesses, but mostly strengths, and we should all be damn excited to see the club in real action against a real opponent, stressful as it is going to be.

The pressure will be on Unai Emery to put his best foot forward, but, playing against Manchester City, the expectations are a bit lowered, I’d have to say. Which means it’s the perfect time to pull one over on the defending champs.

It all starts with a good starting XI. Now, predicting Arsene Wenger’s starting XI’s was hard enough, but predicting Unai Emery’s first ever starting XI after a summer of experimentation is another level up.

Still, using the context clues of the preseason, let’s do our best to dive into this starting XI and what Emery’s first ever may look like. We will start at the back.

Keeper

You don’t spend big bucks on a keeper if you don’t plan on using him. The purpose in buying Bernd Leno was to start Bernd Leno. And while Petr Cech has done a fantastic job reasserting himself, he had all of last year to solidify the job and he failed.

Leno should get the start between the posts, even with the pressure turned up to 11, because you can’t just baby the guy and hope he can inch his way in. Put the trust in him and he should pay the club back with a solid performance.

The only reason why Cech could start is if Emery is so worried about the pressure that he wants to try to hide from it and put in the more experienced guy, but that’s a very timid way to go about this, and Emery does not seem like a timid guy at all.

Next up, let’s talk centerback pairing.