Arsenal predicted lineup vs Chelsea: Tierney & Martinelli?

Arsenal travel to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night to face Chelsea in the Premier League, in a fixture that almost feels ‘big’. Here is the predicted lineup.

In advance we know what will be the reaction if Arsenal curl over and die, ship a painful number of goals and show little character or desire: ‘Mikel Arteta has lost the dressing room’.

Ironically, in many ways he hopes he does lose the dressing room with so many senior players heading for the exit door this summer, as the ones he’d want to keep could be counted on one hand.

Who he plays against Chelsea will be interesting as this is by far the toughest fixture left in the season and one the Gunners can ill-afford to be on the end of a spanking in. Well, more like Arteta than Arsenal.

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Arsenal predicted lineup vs Chelsea: Kieran Tierney back for Premier League start & Gabriel Martinelli keeps his place?

That unappealing midfield pairing of Dani Ceballos and Mohamed Elneny will hopefully be nowhere in sight, ideally partly replaced by Granit Xhaka, who somehow managed to injury his groin during a simple warm-up routine pre-Villarreal.

Up front there is now a decision to make on the trio available, as Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are both fit with Gabriel Martinelli getting a start at centre-forward in a Premier League match for Arsenal. A big day for him.

Who comes into central defence has been a season-long discussion with no set in stone regular partnership formed due to constant tinkering, form and fitness, with David Luiz and Pablo Mari both battling to return from injury.

Emile Smith Rowe is a doubt after picking up a slight hamstring problem in the second half of the West Brom win, a regular occurrence this season and one that will require a summer of resting to recover from. A decision on him or Martin Odegaard is there to make for Arteta.

And what about in goal? Mat Ryan was expected to start against the Baggies in keeping with the trend, although illness ruled him out and if recovered, he may come back in. Equally, with Bernd Leno up for sale, this could be an interesting call.

Goalkeeper & Defenders

Bernd Leno (GK) – It will actually be a tough call for Arteta, who seemed to have set his mind on fielding Ryan in the forthcoming Premier League games prior to Sunday night. Working purely on the basis of the opposition – not that Ryan isn’t richly experienced – the manager may plump for his regular guy.

Calum Chambers (RB) – Who starts in the right-back slot may be solely down to form at the moment, not suitability. With Chelsea’s back three, exploiting the wider gaps may call for more speed but the simple truth is Bellerin looked hopelessly off the pace against Villarreal and rightfully returned to the bench. Some last-minute heroics like last season would be nice, though.

Rob Holding (CB) – Arteta stated that Luiz had yet to recover and would have to be monitored over the ‘next few weeks’, which once again brings into question his attempted mind games by suggesting he had a chance to play the second leg of the Europa League. Anyhow, Holding comes in.

Gabriel (CB) – Another one coming down to the fitness of others, even if Mari was back there is no reason not to play Gabriel in all the remaining Premier League matches. He’s the talent the club invested in, so trust him and let him develop.

Kieran Tierney (LB) – He started against Villarreal because we were desperate, before moving to the bench against West Brom and then getting a good 30 minutes into his legs. He was a danger after replacing Smith Rowe and put in some wicked deliveries, and while he’s still someway off full fitness, if available he’ll start.