Arsenal vs Bournemouth predicted XI: Moving forward

Arsenal are coming off a thrilling 2-2 draw against Chelsea and proceed in the FA Cup against Bournemouth. Here is how they’ll line up.

Arsenal move forth in the FA Cup, Arsene Wenger’s favorite competition. After an inspired result against Chelsea that saw our guys down to ten men before the half hour mark, the Gunners will be eager to establish some sense of dominance over anybody, and the Cherries provide ample opportunity for that.

As it often is, the big question is who Mikel Arteta will call on with rotation the name of the game, but ensuring victory also the name of the same game. A game can only really have one name, right?

Anyway, there are a lot of injuries and suspensions to keep up with here. Which will actually make Arteta’s job easier, given the lack of options he has. So let’s talk missing pieces.

For starters, Reiss Nelson is hurt and unavailable. As is Sead Kolasinac, Kieran Tierney and Calum Chambers. Those are the sure injury absences.

Then there’s David Luiz and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang serving their respective suspensions.

The only other question is Sokratis, who missed out because of a niggling injury, then continued to miss out. But the presumption is he will be good to go for this one, and the subsequent presumption is that he will be starting. But more on that later.

The only other question are centered on Dani Ceballos. There are rumors that he will be cutting his loan short and returning to Real Madrid. Mikel Arteta did not comment on this specifically, but he did say that Ceballos had to fight for his place on the team, just like everyone else. But many speculate that Ceballos has played his last.

Of course, more on that later.

For now, let’s talk personnel and the starting XI. Given availability, Arteta will have to skew the 4-2-3-1 in favor of a 4-3-3 to keep more of a midfield shape. Thus, let’s get started with the keeper.

Keeper

This is an Emi Martinez competition, so let’s move right along to the defense, where the questions start kicking in.