Arsenal predicted XI against Brighton: Arteta drops young trio, rarely-seen £2m man to start

Add as preferred source on Google

Arsenal’s return to Premier League action on Wednesday ended up being a crushing disappointment for the Gunners fanbase as Mikel Arteta’s charges were hammered 3-0 at Manchester City.

However, a fairly quick turnaround sees Arsenal back in action on Saturday afternoon with a less tricky proposition on paper in the shape of Brighton away.

That said, Arteta not only has to contend with rallying his troops in search of an immediate response to the midweek horror show, but he has to do so with a severely depleted defence.

Calum Chambers and Pablo Mari are out for the season, David Luiz is suspended and Sokratis Papastathopoulos is still around two weeks away from being back in full training.

This leaves Shkodran Mustafi as the only regular senior centre-back at Arteta’s disposal, along with Rob Holding, the rarely-seen £2million man not having featured since January.

Both should start in central defence, even though Arteta could potentially give Kieran Tierney a go at centre-back, the Scot having experience of playing there for Celtic.

Tierney did well against Manchester City though, as did Hector Bellerin, so both could line up on the flanks, the back four hoping to give Bernd Leno an easier ride than last time.

With Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira both out, Arteta could turn to Dani Ceballos alongside Matteo Guendouzi just in front of the defence.

There could be plenty of changes in the attacking third, with the youthful trio possibly dropped for Gabriel Martinelli, Mesut Ozil and Nicolas Pepe to pick apart the Brighton defence.

With plenty of games coming up, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could be rested, while Alexandre Lacazette, who started on the bench last time out, could be given the nod up front from the off.

Possible Arsenal starting XI (4-2-3-1): Leno; Bellerin, Holding, Mustafi, Tierney; Guendouzi, Ceballos; Pepe, Ozil, Martinelli; Lacazette