Arsenal will be at home to Sheffield Wednesday this Saturday as they seek to get their second Premier League win of the new year. The Gunners will be without Pierre Emerick Aubameyang who was red-carded for a dangerous tackle in the draw with Crystal Palace.
Below, we look at some of the changes Mikel Arteta needs to make ahead of the match.
Bench Alexandre Lacazette
The French striker is Arsenal’s poorest player at the moment. He looks short on confidence and lacking in fitness. Furthermore, Lacazette has not scored a goal in the last five starts and has one shot on target in 4 premier league starts as the main striker.
Mikel Arteta needs to make a decision on the misfiring Frenchman. Part of his job involves making the hard and unpopular decision and in this instance, it feels like the best decision would be to relegate Lacazette to the bench.
Start Gabriele Martinelli
One of the main positives from Arsenal this season has been the form of the young Brazilian striker. He has scored 8 goals in all competitions and is the second-highest goalscorer behind Aubameyang at Arsenal.
He has mostly been deployed on the left-wing but with Aubameynag suspended and Lacazette struggling, it feels like the time to start him as the main striker.
He is fearless, tenacious and obviously a very good finisher.
Rest Mesut Ozil
The German playmaker has started in all of Mikel Arteta’s matches in charge of the Gunners including the 1-0 win over Lees in the FA Cup. He surely needs a rest and besides that, he has not been in the best of form this season.
The Season is in January but Mesut Ozil has not scored a goal yet. This is a very big part of the reason why Arsenal is 10th in the table with less than 30 points. The players are simply not good enough!