Southampton vs Arsenal: Predicted line-ups for Premier League clash

Southampton return to home turf on Thursday when they host Arsenal in their first Premier League game back at St Mary’s.

The players will be playing in a competitive fixture in an empty home stadium for the first time but will be keen to follow up a comprehensive 3-0 victory at Norwich on Friday with another win.

It remains to be seen whether Mikel Arteta’s and Arsenal’s eyes will be on the league or the FA Cup this week. Their squad contains some significant talent to worry Saints, but Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men will want to take full advantage of the Gunners’ record of two losses since returning to action.

The first meeting of the season between these two sides actually saw a significant moment for both.

A 2-2 draw was played out and saw Saints put in a battling display to begin a run of very good form that got them out of trouble, whilst Arsenal’s unconvincing showing pushed then manager Unai Emery further towards his inevitable sacking.

Ahead of Thursday’s meeting, there is some notable team news that may have an effect on the game itself.

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Saints will be boosted by the return of Shane Long from injury and he could come back into the starting line-up to partner Danny Ings upfront. Moussa Djenepo remains out through suspension for another two matches.

Arsenal were dealt a blow at Brighton on Saturday when goalkeeper Bernd Leno went off with a knee injury, although the good news is that his issue doesn’t seem as bad as first feared.

Each of Calum Chambers, Pablo Mari, Gabriel Martinelli, Cedric and Lucas Torreira remain out and David Luiz is serving a suspension, but Sokratis and Granit Xhaka could return to contention.

As mentioned before, the Gunners do have an FA Cup tie against Sheffield United on Sunday and could make changes depending on which competition they are prioritising.

With everything taken into account, here are the predicted starting line-ups for both teams:

Saints predicted team

Alex McCarthy, Kyle Walker-Peters, Jan Bednarek, Jack Stephens, Ryan Bertrand, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, James Ward-Prowse, Stuart Armstrong, Nathan Redmond, Danny Ings, Shane Long

Arsenal predicted team

Emiliano Martinez, Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi, Rob Holding, Kieran Tierney, Dani Ceballos, Matteo Guendouzi, Reiss Nelson, Nicolas Pepe, Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang