Predicted Arsenal line-up vs Brentford, Ramsdale starts
|Arsenal travel to the Gtech Stadium for tonight’s Carabao Cup third round tie versus Brentford.
The Gunners played out a frustrating 2-2 draw against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. They squandered two clear-cut chances in the opening half which proved costly in the end.
Mikel Arteta will be hoping for a return to winning ways, but he will be without some key players with injuries. The manager has revealed that Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard are ruled out.
The Gunners boss added that Bukayo Saka is a huge doubt too with a foot injury. The Gunners graduate could possibly be sidelined against Brentford as well as Bournemouth this weekend.
Formation: 4-3-3
Predicted Line-up:
Aaron Ramsdale has been on the bench for the last three games with David Raya preferred in goal. The Englishman should reclaim his spot between the sticks as part of the usual rotation for the Carabao Cup.
In defence, we anticipate a couple of changes from the north London derby draw. Takehiro Tomiyasu could come at right-back in place of Ben White while Jakub Kiwior could replace Gabriel Magalhaes.
William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko could keep their places. Arteta does not like to rotate his entire backline as seen during the group stage of the Europa League in the previous campaign.
In midfield, there will be an enforced change with Rice currently injured. Jorginho is the natural replacement in the number six role. He will be keen to redeem himself after gifting a goal to Spurs.
Alongside him, it could be Kai Havertz and Fabio Vieira in midfield with club captain Martin Odegaard likely to be rested. Emile Smith Rowe and Reiss Nelson are strong candidates to start on the wings.
We saw an example at the weekend where Smith Rowe came on the left flank with Nelson on the right. Up front, Gabriel Jesus gets our nod over Nketiah. He was a better threat on goal in the north London derby despite starting on the left wing.
How Arsenal could line up vs Brentford