We entertain Southampton at The Emirates this weekend, looking to avenge our defeat back at Christmas by the south coast side. The game comes on the back of our fine Europa League win over BATE Borisov on Thursday night, with most of the squad looking likely to be available aside from Laurent Koscielny and the long-term absentees Holding, Welbeck and Bellerin.
Sokratis should return to the fold against Southampton today, after his late, goal-scoring substitute appearance against BATE in the week. Laurent Koscielny made way for the Grecian limping off with another injury so remains a major doubt for the game today.
Ainsley-Maitland Niles looks to have caught one of Mesut Ozil’s illnesses, and it remains to be seen whether Emery will keep the faith with Ozil, or continue their off-field antics and drop the German back to the bench or out of the squad all together.
Leno should return to the side, replacing Cech who kept a clean sheet against BATE in the week. Lichtsteiner could feature with Kolasinac at the back, while Sokratis and Mustafi will probably play, while Monreal is also in contention.
Guendouzi, Xhaka, Mkhitaryan and Torreira should all be available, with Ozil and Iwobi also likely to start.
Lacazette and Aubameyang will fly the flag up front and with Lacazette banned for our Europa League games, he will want to help the squad out in our remaining league games as we look to finish the season strongly in an outside bid for that elusive top four spot.
After the game at The Emirates against the Saints, we then entertain Bournemouth in the week ahead of Tottenham’s cup-final at the weekend with our visit to Wembley, another must-win if we are serious about securing a top four berth.
