Unai Emery has named his Arsenal squad to face Newcastle in the two teams first Premier League fixture of the season. Young midfielder Matteo Guendouzi will partner Grant Xhaka in midfield while Pierre Emerick Aubameyang leads the line.
In the absence of Mesut Ozil, academy graduate Joe Willock starts in the attacking midfielder’s role flanked by Henrik Mkhitaryan and Reiss Nelson. Nacho Monreal stars in left-back while the center back pairing will see Sokratis partner Calum Chambers.
Record signing Nicholas Pepe is on the bench alongside Dani Ceballos and Alexandre Lacazette.
The fans had this to say on the line up..
Todays starting line up looks very very average, Emery getting today’s game mixed up with the Carabao cup!!?
— 🔴 Al the Gooner 🔴 (@alec1271) August 11, 2019
If you told me 3 months ago that would be our opening day lineup I would’ve thrown up in your face. Obviously willock’s fantastic preseason & Nelson looking good changes that, and there’s a ton of quality on the bench. The back line is a bit scary. Need Auba to ball out
— YankeeGunner (@YankeeGunner) August 11, 2019
We have picked our fittest team – simple
— Clive (@clivepafc) August 11, 2019
Arsenal will be looking to get off to a winning start after losing their first two matches last season. The Gunners finished 5th as a result which means they failed to achieve their target which was getting back to the Champions League.