🏆 Arsenal (A) Pre-match thoughts, team news, possible line up and prediction
It was a dream end to 2024 with five straight win and an emptying of Old Trafford, followed by an equally ideal start to 2025 as we beat Spurs in their own backyard on Saturday.
We're flying. Six wins on the spin, up to fifth, a point from Chelsea in fourth, although the ultimate ambition remains to win a trophy, with a two-legged tie with Arsenal all that stands between us and another trip to Wembley.
It'll be a tough test, but the Gunners have lost their captain - Bukayo Saka - and gone a little flat. We'll be missing two big guns for this one in suspended duo Bruno Guimaraes and Fabian Schar, but this could be a good time to face an Arsenal side struggling for goals, suffering with injuries and managing a sickness bug that has disruped their last two league games.
Howe’s pre-match quotes
Howe on Arsenal test - "We’ve got to be really good off the ball and solid defensively. We’ve got to cause Arsenal problems the other way. I don’t think we should overthink it, we just need to get that mix right. Let’s try and continue the good performances we’ve given recently and try and win the game."
Howe on team selection - "You ask any player, and I will ask every player how they are physically, and they will all say they want to play. It is a massive game for us, we are under no illusions, part of our strength recently has been the consistency in our team selection so let’s see what we will do."
Howe on Botman - ""He feels good, naturally a little bit of fatigue at the end. He has trained for a long, long time for this moment. It is not like he has been rushed back. Straight into action, he did very well, very pleased with him, he handled the intensity well. We'll have to speak with the player and the medical team who will give me some of the answers to what we do with him next."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYA-B1atBF0&t=456s
Team news
Bruno Guimaraes and Fabian Schar are suspended, Sven Botman will be assessed after playing his first league game since March at Spurs and Anthony Gordon (nose) is OK.
Nick Pope (knee) is edging closer, but Callum Wilson (hamstring), Jamaal Lascelles (ACL) remain out along with Emil Krafth (collar bone).
For Arsenal, they'll be without three wingers in Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling and Ethan Nwaneri, while Ben White remains out. It remains to be seen if Kai Havertz will return from illness after a bug in the camp.
Predicted line-up
(4-3-3): Dubravka – Trippier, Botman, Burn, Hall – Longstaff, Tonali, Joelinton – Murphy, Isak, Gordon.
Plugging the big gaps Bruno and Schar will leave is the key task for Howe heading into this one, although the Gunners have their star attacker missing in Saka to balance things out slightly.
Livramento was outstanding on Saturday and doesn't deserve to drop out of the side, but with our midfield maestro and ball-playing centre-back both absent, I think Trippier's calmness, quality in possession and experience could be key down our right.
Ahead of him, it looks like Longstaff will replace Bruno as our right-sided No.8. Tonali has made that No.6 role his own and Longstaff's ability to plug gaps and defend in games we have less of the ball is well known to Howe.
Willock is an option, as is Miley, but the former tends to play down the left an the latter seems unlikely to be thrown into a game of this magnitude after easing his way back from two long injuries and no pre-season.
Dubravka is fully expected to start, yet it could well be his last appearance for the club, with reports in Saudi Arabia suggesting he is set to join Al-Shabab as soon as Pope returns from a knee issue.
Match prediction
History suggests we rarely win without Bruno, but recent history also tells us we've won six straight games, including two away victories at Spurs and Man Utd. Because of that, we come into this full of confidence and desperate to give ourselves every chance of making the final when the two sides meet at St James' Park next month.
Arsenal are so strong defensively and won't give us much, but we have the best striker in the Premier League, an on-song Anthony Gordon and a defence that has conceded just two goals in our last six games. The test will be how our midfield copes without Bruno, along with Botman's ability to start twice in four days after so long out.
A narrow defeat wouldn't be a disaster, I've just got a feeling we might just frustrate the Gunners and return to Tyneside with a draw.
Prediction: Arsenal 1-1 Newcastle
Howay the lads!
