After conceding an early goal which proved to be decisive against Hosts Aston Villa on Saturday, Gunners now move back to their home to host Bielsa’s Leeds United. Mikel Arteta will be craving to be back to their winning ways as Gunners have now gone three matches straight without a win and are now sitting at 11th position in the points table. They will be playing hosts to Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United who are coming from winning 2-0 against Crystal Palace and for Arsenal, Leeds United is one of the best teams they can face right now as they are sitting at 10th , which is one place above Arsenal with just 1 point ahead of them.
Arteta will be in a desperate position to find a way to start winning matches again and gain some momentum into their title run as as they have now lost both their previous two matches and are now at the bottom half of the table and are going further away from the top 5 spots, which will eventually lead them to not being able to qualifying for the European Competition. They will be back in action on Sunday in their home ground and players will be feeling refreshed and ready to go on to the field as they had got a week’s break and Gunners fans will also hope that Arteta have a plan to restore their winning form as Arsenal’s boss surely had his time to solve their problems which were hampering them from winning matches and will be hoping to come to the Emirates on Sunday, with a plan to defeat Leeds United, if they want to have a top 5 spot in the points table.
Whereas, Leeds United will be coming to this match, having won three of their last four league games , which includes victory over Newcastle United, Leicester City and their recent 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace. They will look to keep their momentum going on Sunday against an out-of-form Arsenal. But, come Sunday, the Gunners will look to take advantage of Leeds United’s united most recent setback, in the form of Kalvin Philips, who was injured during their 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace as the Englishman is the best player at his team and is their Talisman and therefore, we can say that he will be a big absence for Bielsa’s side.
The Argentinean manager said in a statement to Leeds Live: “Pablo in the last session picked up a minor muscular injury. Although the injury is minor, it is better he didn’t play as a precaution. Sincerely, I don’t know the status of Philips injury now.”
A former Premier League striker Darren Bent have justified about how Philips role is so important to his team and how influential playmaker he is for his team. He said: “It is a unique role, and you think who else can they get in that position who can do the job effectively. The answer to that is no one. He’s that good of a player that it’s hard to replace him. You don’t just get players like that, it’s not that easy.” And that is the reason why Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa was so angry and disappointed by the club’s higher ups as-well-as their management as they failed to recruit reinforcements in the recent January Transfer window and add to the fact that Philips injury happened just a week after the transfer window had closed just adds more fuel to the fire. Regardless of that fact, Marcelo Bielsa will try his best to win the match against Arsenal and to stay at the top half of the table.
Arsenal will be keen to break their losing streak as the have now got a proper break in a long time and also David Luiz and Brend Leno coming back to the team after serving their suspension, as both of them received a Red card against Wolves. Mathew Ryan who was replaced for the suspended German keeper in the goalpost, performed really well against a pretty good Aston Villa attack but still, He will be replaced back to the reserves as Leno will be Arteta’s first choice for the Goalkeeper’s position. Same goes for David Luiz as he will be back to his duties as the Centre-back on Sunday while replacing his countryman Gabriel Magalhese, who showed some form against Aston Villa after a shaky start.
Other than that, Thomas Partey will be returning to the team ahead of their league clash as he was subbed-of during their match against Villa due to him experiencing some pain in his thighs as he was suffering from a thigh injury earlier this season. But he is set to be back and prepared for their match as the injury was not considered serious and the midfielder had spend the next few days recovering ahead of their match at Emirates Stadium on Sunday and will be joined by Granit Xhaka and Emile Smith Rowe in the midfield.
Lacazette will once again be starting for the Gunners in the forward position with Bakuyo Saka and Nicolas Pepe on the right and left wings respectively as both the wingers had a decent game against Villa and as for Aubameyang, he is seemed to be left out of both as a left winger and as a Centre-forward and Lacazette being prefered more as a striker to lead their attack. Arsenal are currently without Kieran Tierney who has missed the last two league games with an upper leg injury.
In Arsenal’s previous encounter against Leeds United earlier this season, it was resulted in a Goalless draw in which Arsenal were reduced to 10-men as Pepe was a shown a red card.
Arsenal’s Predicted XI for the match against Leeds United FC on Sunday: Brend Leno (GK), Cedric Soars, David Luiz, Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin, Thomas Partey, Emile Smith Rowe, Granit Xhaka, Bakuyo Saka, Alexandre Lacazette, Nicolas Pepe.
