Pepe and Ceballos start, Predicted Arsenal lineup (4-2-3-1) to face Liverpool

Arsenal have the opportunity to preserve their perfect start to the Premier League season when they tackle Liverpool in Saturday’s late kick-off from Anfield.

The Gunners have had a wretched record at the stadium over the past few years and they go into Saturday’s game with just two points attained from the previous six league visits.

Still, there should be plenty of optimism this time around with the additional quality within the ranks while the Reds have looked a bit shaky at the back in the absence of goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

Team News:

Kieran Tierney, Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding, Dinos Mavropanos, Emile Smith Rowe are out of the encounter as they continue to step up their fitness after respective injuries. Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil, however, have returned to full training but require late fitness tests to determine their involvement.

Formation: 4-2-3-1

Predicted Lineup:

Bernd Leno is regarded as the undisputed choice when it comes to the goalkeeping duties and he is expected to start in goal against the Champions League holders. The German will be eyeing a second successive clean sheet on the road.

At the back, no changes are expected. Ainsley Maitland-Niles should feature at right-back with Nacho Monreal on the other side of the central defence, ahead of Sead Kolasinac due to the better defensive skills.

At the heart of the backline, David Luiz should be paired alongside Sokratis Papastathopoulos once more. Luiz made the single mistake against Burnley last weekend but overall, he had a good debut with a number of key interceptions.

In the central midfield, Matteo Guendouzi should feature from the beginning after starting the past two games for the side. However, that may not be the case with club graduate Joe Willock, who will drop to the bench, with the anticipated return of skipper Xhaka.

In the attack, there may be the solitary change from the 2-1 win over Burnley with Reiss Nelson dropping to the bench for Nicolas Pepe, who should earn his maiden start for the club.

Dani Ceballos deserves another start ahead of Ozil in the number 10 position after a stunning man of the match performance against Burnley, where he grabbed a couple of assists.

He is likely to be flanked by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Pepe on the left and right wing positions respectively with Alexandre Lacazette starting upfront for the second straight game.

Aubameyang has been the main gamechanger with the winning goals in the first two league games of the season, but Emery should be tempted to lead the line with Lacazette, who has the tendency to make the difference in the big matches.

Predicted XI: Bernd Leno, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, David Luiz, Nacho Monreal, Granit Xhaka, Matteo Guendouzi, Nicolas Pepe, Dani Ceballos, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette