Arsenal Predicted XI vs Leeds United: Mikel Arteta’s possible starting line-up at Elland Road as midfield duo miss out

Arsenal return to Premier League action after the latest international break with a trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United.

Mikel Arteta will be hoping his side can bounce back after a surprise 3-0 defeat at home to Aston Villa last time out.

That result left the Gunners 11th in the table going into the international break having won four and lost four of their opening eight league matches.

However, with Leeds having lost their last two matches – conceding four in both of those – the North London side will be confident that they can get back to winning ways.

But which players will Arteta pick to try and secure an important three points on Sunday?

Here we predict the Spaniard’s starting Arsenal XI to take on Leeds United…

Goalkeeper:

One of the easiest predictions is that Bernd Leno will be between the sticks for Arsenal at Elland Road, The German is Arteta’s undisputed first-choice and has started all eight Premier League matches so far this term. He will be aiming to keep just a second clean sheet in this encounter.

Defenders:

Despite having a busy international break, Kieran Tierney is expected to slot straight back into an Arsenal back-three for this trip to Leeds. Alongside the Scot, we feel Gabriel will continue his role in the centre of defence with Rob Holding, who has started the last two matches, on the right side. This would leave the likes of David Luiz and Shkodran Mustafi in reserve. Sead Kolasinac misses out due to coronavirus.

Midfielders:

Starting with the wing-backs, Bukayo Saka is expected to start on the left flank, despite having played 200 minutes for England over the international break. On the right, Hector Bellerin, who featured for Spain over the past fortnight, should come straight back into the side. Meanwhile, in the middle, Arteta will be without Thomas Partey (injured) and Mohamed Elneny (coronavirus), meaning Dani Ceballos and Granit Xhaka will get opportunities to impress.

Forwards:

Arteta has some decisions to make in his front-three. Despite not having scored for six matches we feel Alexandre Lacazette will get the nod to start in the central striking role ahead of former Leeds loanee Eddie Nketiah. There’s no doubting that captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will start the match as he looks to add to his underwhelming tally of just two Premier League goals so far this term. However, on the right side of attack, we feel that Nicolas Pepe might just get the nod ahead of Willian who took an unadvised trip to Dubai over the international break.

Predicted Arsenal XI vs Leeds: Leno; Holding, Gabriel, Tierney; Bellerin, Ceballos, Xhaka, Saka; Pepe, Aubameyang, Lacazette.