Arsenal vs Manchester City: Arsenal's possible line-up against the reigning champions

Arsenal couldn't have had a better opening game to test new Boss Unai Emery and his work, with champions Manchester City traveling to North London this Sunday. Pep Guardiola’s men will head to The Emirates after a confidence boosting 2-0 win against Chelsea to bag the Community Shield.

Arsenal on the other hand will walk into the Premier League with a fair amount of confidence, having had a decent pre-season (despite the loss to Atletico Madrid on penalties), with wins against Chelsea (on penalties), PSG, and Lazio.

The pre-season saw Emery utilising the 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 3-4-3 and 4-4-2 formations. The Spaniard has fielded both 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 formations in his career so far.

He will either use the latter to accommodate playmaker Mesut Ozil or the former (more likely). From what we've seen during the pre-season, here's how Arsenal could line up.

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Goalkeepers

Since Arsenal legend Jens Lehmann's exit, Arsenal has had a difficult time with its goalkeepers. This season, the ultimate question is who is the first choice goalkeeper? Bernd or Cech? Emery has been silent on the issue so far, but with the opening game upon us (especially against defending champions Manchester City), the question is persistent.

Petr Cech

Although Petr Cech has proven himself quite capable of the task during pre-season, his work last season (48 goals conceded) will prove to be the factor leaving Emery unconvinced. Cech however has also been one of the most reliable goalkeepers in football, and has the experience the young Leno doesn't.

Bernd Leno - new signing

Despite Leno's fall-outs in Germany last season, conceding 40 goals and keeping 10 clean sheets, Bernd Leno joined from Bayer Leverkusen for £19million for a reason.

Emery may choose to make a statement by starting the German goalkeeper. The new boss may just put his trust in Leno's distribution and ability to play out from the back, and hope for a solid performance.

Defence

Arsenal's Hector Bellerin

Arsenal's defence has been a major problem area in the last few seasons. To add to the already existing problem, a number of the club's defenders have been plagued with injuries recently.

Kolasinac is expected to miss around two months due to a knee injury suffered in pre-season, left-back Nacho Monreal has a knee problem, and Laurent Koscielny picked up an injury during a Europa League semi-final tie against Atletico Madrid, and will be out for six months after his Achilles surgery in May.

Considering all this, it is safe to say that central midfielder Ainsley Maitland-Niles might have to fill in at left-back for the pace needed to stop the Cityzens attack. With Calum Chambers also on loan at Fulham, the expected starters are Hector Bellerin at right back (despite Stephan Lichtsteiner's addition), and a centre-half pairing of Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

Midfield

Ozil in pre-season action

Assuming Emery fields a 4-4-2, the midfield will be anchored around two deep midfielders - probably Granit Xhaka, and new signing Lucas Torreira, who has been pegged to be one to look out for. This is assuming Aaron Ramsey who is injury-stricken, and only returned to training this week will not be fit enough to play.

The other two midfield choices seem easier to make, with Mesut Ozil (the more obvious choice) and Mkhitaryan to act as the ideal pairing to start out wide, the former on the right and the latter on the left.

The question of deep midfield starters entirely depends on fitness levels. Torreira and Xhaka returned late from the World Cup, while Ramsey has only just returned to the training ground after a calf injury.

Attack

Aubameyang - prolific

Ahead of Danny Welbeck and Lucas Perez, Emery is expected to start the most obvious attacking duo against the Premier League Champions.

Gabonese forward Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang who bagged 10 goals in 12 Premier League appearances is guaranteed to get a spot in the starting eleven.

Despite bagging just 14 goals in 26 appearances last season, Alexandre Lacazette is likely to get a start owing to his impressive performance during the pre-season, as well as the duo's understanding of one another.