Pain in the Arsenal
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Arsenal Vs West Ham United: Predicted starting XI – Lacazette returns

By Andrew Dowdeswell

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 12: Unai Emery, Manager of Arsenal looks on during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on August 12, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 12: Unai Emery, Manager of Arsenal looks on during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on August 12, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /
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Arsenal, Unai Emery
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 12: Unai Emery, Manager of Arsenal looks on during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on August 12, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /

Arsenal host West Ham United on Saturday afternoon, still searching for their first win of the season. Here is the Gunners’ predicted starting XI ahead of the critical home tie.

The Premier League rumbles on this weekend with Arsenal hosting West Ham United for their first Saturday, 3 o’clock kick-off of the season. Unai Emery has a lot of decisions to make. Two games into his tenure and the Spaniard is still forming his thoughts about plenty of the players in his squad, sussing out which ones can adapt to his style and which ones need to be moved on. This game will provide a different pattern than those against Manchester City and Chelsea, allowing Emery to further analyse his new crop of players.

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Here is the Gunners’ predicted starting XI as they welcome Jack Wilshere and West Ham back to the Emirates.

Arsenal, Petr Cech
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 18: Petr Cech of Arsenal saves a shot from Pedro of Chelsea during the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Arsenal FC at Stamford Bridge on August 18, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images) /

Goalkeeper

While there are many who would like to see Bernd Leno start in goal, I think it’s fairly plain to see that Emery will entrust the starting goalkeeper position to Petr Cech until the 36-year-old does something to force his hand. Cech again played well with his hands against Chelsea. He also improved with his feet. For now, then, he starts.