Arsenal fans react as Mikel Arteta benches Nicolas Pepe again

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Arsenal take on Aston Villa in the Premier League at the Emirates Stadium tonight.

The Gunners are looking to follow up their brilliant 1-0 victory over Manchester United last weekend and make gains on the top four, which is currently being occupied by Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Southampton.

Mikel Arteta’s side currently sit 10th in the table on 12 points, but a win will see them climb up to sixth where Everton currently are.

Standing in their way of the three points are Villa, who have encountered their first bump in the road after a stunning start to 2020/21.

Dean Smith’s side are looking to bounce back having lost their last two games to Leeds United and Southampton.

For the game, Arteta has named an unchanged XI from the one that, adopting the back five system once again.

Bernd Leno is protected by Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding, Gabriel, Kieran Tierney and Bukayo Saka.

Thomas Partey is in central midfield alongside Mohamed Elneny again after the pair were outstanding together last weekend.

And in attack, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Willian are either side of Alexandre Lacazette, who keeps his place despite some hoping for the Gabon star to be moved centrally.

Some Arsenal fans reacted to the line-up, with a few people actually quite unhappy that Nicolas Pepe has again been left on the bench: