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Arsenal is going into the weekend with a single win under their belt after having defeated West Ham 3-1 last Saturday.
The Gunners will be travelling to Cardiff City this Sunday for their first away game this season and will be hoping to improve their abysmal record away from home. The North London club won just a single Premier League game away from the Emirates in 2018.
The Welsh club, on the other hand, is the only team in the Premier League that is yet to score a goal this season. The side has drawn a blank in all three games against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Huddersfield since the term started.
Unai Emery will be hoping to seal another win against a side pegged to finish bottom while Neil Warnock will hope to overcome the Gunners and add a goal to his team's tally.
Let's look into how Arsenal could potentially line-up against Cardiff:
Goalkeeper
It appears Unai Emery will stick to Petr Cech as his no.1 with summer signing Bernd Leno yet to make an appearance.
His faith in the Czech international between the sticks bore fruit as Cech has now topped the charts for most saves so far this Premier League campaign. The goalkeeper has kept out a record high of 18 of 24 shots on his goal.
It's safe to say Emery will persist with Cech this time around, too.
Defence
Arsenal’s defensive injuries remain the same: Sead Kolasinac is a long-term absentee recovering from a knee injury and he isn't expected to be back until October. Laurent Koscielny will also remain gone for a long time as a result of a ruptured Achilles he sustained in the Europa League semi-final against Atletico Madrid. Ainsley Maitland-Niles is also out owing to a small fracture to his left fibula.
Emery will likely deploy a back four with the centre-back pairing of Sokratis and Mustafi. Bellerin will likely remain at the right back position. Whether Lichsteiner will start remains to be seen but it looks more likely that Nacho Monreal will stick to the left.
Midfield
All eyes are set to be on the Arsenal midfield on Sunday to see whether Mesut Ozil will be starting after he refrained from playing against West Ham last weekend due to an unspecified illness. There was speculation that Unai Emery had a training ground argument with the German a day before the game but the manager quickly dismissed the reports.
The manager even went on to say that Mesut Ozil is fit and available for Sunday's game at Cardiff. Whether Aaron Ramsey or Ozil will be given a start, however, remains to be seen.
Matteo Guendouzi is expected to keep his place in the midfield. The game is important for the teenager in terms of records as he could become only the fourth teenager to start each of Arsenal’s first four matches in a Premier League season, after Nicolas Anelka, Cesc Fabregas and Johan Djourou.
Summer signing, Lucas Torreira, who came on after less than an hour last weekend, will be hoping for a start at the expense of Granit Xhaka but once again, the manager could persist with the latter.
Following his impressive cameo against West Ham, Danny Welbeck could be expected to replace Alex Iwobi or Henrikh Mkhitaryan however it's likely that he would start at the bench and come in much later in the game.
Attack
Alexandre Lacazette has been pushing for a place in the starting XI, having recently proved himself off the bench in the Gunners' winning game against West Ham.
Fans have been calling for Lacazette to start alongside Aubameyang but Emery has been reluctant to start the duo because of team balance concerns. Even former Premier League star Jamie Redknapp believes that the two, when played together, would emerge as a power duo that will strike fear on Arsenal's opponents.
Considering the fact Emery likes his team to play out from the back, he would need a bulk of players in midfield. This will not allow him to play two strikers up front, especially against the 'Big Six'. Arsenal's lack of a box-to-box midfielder at the moment also doesn't help their cause.
Whether he chooses to take the risk and use the two strikers remains to be seen. While Emery could deploy the duo in games against easier opponents, he could stick to his usual routine: starting Aubameyang up front.
