Willian to start: How Arsenal could line up against Burnley | OneFootball

Arsenal face Burnley on Saturday as they look to get a run going in the Premier League, let’s take a look at our predicted lineup for the match.

After rotating fairly heavily in the win over Leicester City before a week’s break, Mikel Arteta shouldn’t have any problems naming his strongest side against Burnley.

There’s a five-day gap to the subsequent game away to Olympiacos, so there’s not really any pressure to leave players out for that match. Arteta can always take off any players who do look tired on the day.

With that in mind, here’s our Arsenal predicted lineup to face Burnley.

Goalkeeper

Bernd Leno should start in goal, as usual. Once again, a defensive error robbed the goalkeeper of a clean sheet against Leicester City, but he’s still doing a good job of keeping out all the shots he actually has a chance with.

Defence

After a couple of changes against Leicester City, Mikel Arteta will probably return to his usual back four of Kieran Tierney, Gabriel Magalhaes, David Luiz, and Hector Bellerin.

There’s certainly an argument to be made that Cedric Soares is the better option at right-back right now, but Cedric was working well with Nicolas Pepe, whereas Bukayo Saka has had plenty of success with Bellerin.

Assuming Saka is back in the starting lineup, we’ll likely see Arteta return to picking Bellerin as well.

Midfield

It looks likely there’ll be one enforced change in midfield, with Emile Smith Rowe suffering an injury in Leicester. Martin Odegaard can take his place.

Granit Xhaka will surely start, as always, with Thomas Partey available to come in alongside him. Dani Ceballos is also an option, but Partey seems to be the preferred option when he is fully fit.

Forwards

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bukayo Saka dropped out of the starting lineup against Leicester City for a rest, but they’re both likely to start this one. The only question is over who starts on the left, given Smith Rowe’s probable unavailability.

Willian finally had a good game last weekend, so he’s actually a fairly realistic option. Nicolas Pepe is also an option.

Arteta has talked about how he prefers Willian when the opposition are sitting deep – which Burnley probably will – so we’re predicting a start for the Brazilian.

Alexandre Lacazette and Gabriel Martinelli will have to settle for places on the bench, whilst Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah will be lucky to make the squad.

Predicted Arsenal Lineup vs Burnley