Thomas Partey, Arsenal (Photo by SHAUN BOTTERILL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Who starts in the midfield?
If I would have told you this a few seasons ago, you would have bitten my head off. But nowadays, Arsenal find themselves with TOO MANY excellent midfielders, to the point where fans don’t know who Arteta will start anymore. Mohamed Elneny and Thomas Partey were excellent against Manchester United, but Dani Ceballos and Granit Xhaka’s class cannot be undermined.
In my predicted XI, I assumed that it would be a midfield three of Xhaka, Partey and Elneny with Ceballos coming from the bench if Arsenal need more of an attacking edge as the game progresses. But it could still go either way, and no matter who is benched, one would feel like it’s hard done by.
I’m certainly not complaining, of course. It’s a nice problem to have.
Either way, Arsenal will need to have their best midfield possible, with a balance of both attack and defence. Of course, they will likely come up against Jack Grealish, who is never an easy midfielder to defend against, so the defence will need all the help they can get from the midfield. I’m certain Arteta will be well aware of this.
predicted XI</a>, I assumed that it would be a midfield three of Xhaka, Partey and Elneny with Ceballos coming from the bench if Arsenal need more of an attacking edge as the game progresses. But it could still go either way, and no matter who is benched, one would feel like it’s hard done by.</p>
<p>I’m certainly not complaining, of course. It’s a nice problem to have.</p>
<p>Either way, Arsenal will need to have their best midfield possible, with a balance of both attack and defence. Of course, they will likely come up against Jack Grealish, who is never an easy midfielder to defend against, so the defence will need all the help they can get from the midfield. I’m certain Arteta will be well aware of this.</p>
<div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background: #0" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://playingfor90.com/2020/11/08/3-talking-arsenal-aston-villa-martinez/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> A welcome home for Martinez </a>
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<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-large wp-image-485266" src=https://playingfor90.com/2020/11/08/3-talking-arsenal-aston-villa-martinez/2/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_389,w_590/https%3A%2F%2Fplayingfor90.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2017%2F07%2F1229155457-850x560.jpeg" alt="Arsenal" width="590" height="389"><div class="fs-center-img">
<p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:590px;">Emiliano Martinez, Aston Villa (Photo by RUI VIEIRA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)</p>
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<h3>A welcome home for Martinez</h3>
<p>It takes a great player with a good reputation to leave a club with no hard feelings. This describes Emiliano Martinez to a tee, as despite no longer playing for the club, Arsenal fans still love Emi as one of their own.</p>
<p>And why wouldn’t they? The Spanish goalkeeper served many loyal years to the Gunners and although he didn’t quite make it until his last season, he learned from the likes of Wojciech Szczesny and Petr Cech well, to eventually go on to win an FA Cup for the Gunners.</p>
<p>Now he is playing for Aston Villa and finally getting successive game time, something he fully deserves. He will come up against the club which he professes to love and there will be no hard feelings between the two.</p>
<p>Arsenal attackers know exactly what they’re coming up against, Aubameyang in particular as he has kept in contact with his former teammate. Although, it’s not like he will take it easy; the Gabon international is back in goal scoring form and he will look to continue this against the Clarets.</p>
<div class="fs-shortcode" data-type="StoryLink" data-theme="dark" data-text="Arsenal predicted XI to face Aston Villa" data-url="https://playingfor90.com/2020/11/07/arsenal-predicted-xi-aston-villa-3/" data-call-to-action="Next"> <div class="story-link-next"> <a class="story-link-next-btn" style="background: #0" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="story-link-next-shortcode" href=https://playingfor90.com/2020/11/08/3-talking-arsenal-aston-villa-martinez/2/"https://playingfor90.com/2020/11/07/arsenal-predicted-xi-aston-villa-3/"> <span class="call_to_action">Next:</span> Arsenal predicted XI to face Aston Villa </a> </div>
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<p>What is your score prediction for Arsenal vs Aston Villa this evening?</p><!—pageview_candidate—>">