Pain in the Arsenal
Fansided

Arsenal Vs West Ham United: Predicted starting XI – The Mikel Arteta pecking order

By Andrew Dowdeswell

4 venue choices as Arsenal are forced to cancel Greece plans for Europa League round of 32 tie with Benfica (Photo by Harriet Lander/Copa/Getty Images)
4 venue choices as Arsenal are forced to cancel Greece plans for Europa League round of 32 tie with Benfica (Photo by Harriet Lander/Copa/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 5
Next
Arsenal, Granit Xhaka
LONDON, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 16: Granit Xhaka of Arsenal FC applauds the home fans after the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Newcastle United at Emirates Stadium on February 16, 2020 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Visionhaus) /

Central Midfield

Across the front six positions, Mikel Arteta might have more options than in any other area of the team. And yet, despite the many players, his thinking has become increasingly clear over the past week.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

In needing to beat Olympiakos in the Europa League, Arteta started a central midfield trio of Dani Ceballos, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil. He then rested all three against Portsmouth in the FA Cup, starting Matteo Guendouzi, Lucas Torreira and Joe Willock in their positions instead — Ceballos played the majority of that match, but that was only due to Torreira suffering an early injury.

It is not unreasonable, then, to assume that Arteta will revert to what seems to be his first-choice central midfield of Ceballos, Xhaka and Ozil. Whether they deserve to be the starters at their respective positions is another debate. In Arteta’s mind, they are, and with this being a Premier League game, he will surely use what he believes is his strongest team.

Ceballos, it should be said, has played a lot of football of late, after only just returning from injury himself. He could be a candidate for rotation. But Xhaka and Ozil, for better or worse, are mainstays.