Arsenal and Chelsea square up at Wembley on Saturday hoping to add to their FA Cup wins collection.
The London rivals will be looking to outwit each other, but it is Chelsea who are looking like favorites to win this one, giving their strong end to the campaign while Arsenal are down on morale, as they have failed to qualify for next season’s Champions League group stages.
In recent months, the Gunners have mirrored Chelsea’s formation to varying degrees of success and now, we take a look at the probable lineup for Arsene Wenger’s team.
Goalkeeper:
This will be a hard choice as David Ospina has been the preferred ‘keeper in the cup competitions, but with Laurent Koscielny out of this one, Arsenal need leaders and Petre Cech comes to mind. However, Ospina should start.
Defence:
The absence of Koscielny to suspension and Gabriel to injury means Wenger will most likely go for the trio of Monreal, Holding and Mustafi. Gabriel was stretchered off in the last game against Everton after a clash with Enner Valencia while Koscielny was sent off for a reckless challenge in the same game.
Midfield:
In left wing back, Kieran Gibbs should bomb forward while on the opposite flank, Alex Chamberlain should start ahead of Hector Bellerin. In the middle of the park, the partnership of Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey is looking like the real deal and they should both look to continue that good cop-bad cop routine.
Attack:
In what could be Alexis Sanchez’s last game for the Gunners, he will start from the right while Mesut Ozil will occupy from the left while drifting inside. Up front, Olivier Giroud should get the nod ahead of Danny Welbeck.
Probable lineup: Ospina, Holding, Mustafi, Monreal, Gibbs, Chamberlain, Xhaka, Ramsey, Ozil, Sanchez, Giroud.
