Arsenal take on Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium in Saturday’s late kickoff in the Premier League aiming to maintain their perfect start to the new campaign.
After edging past Leicester City in last
weekend’s opener, the Gunners are now hoping to win their first two games of a top-flight season for the first time in seven years.
After three-successive seasons of top-half finishes, Stoke were backed by many last summer to potentially push on under experienced boss Mark Hughes and challenge for a place in a European qualification spot.
A dreadful start to the season put paid to those aspirations, though, as they took just three points from their first seven outings and failed to truly find any real momentum over the next seven months of the season.
They may have done it the hard way, requiring two goals in the final 10 minutes at the Emirates Stadium, but all that matters is that Arsenal kicked off their season with all three points against Leicester last weekend.
It was one of the most dramatic opening-game fixtures in the competition’s history, seeing the Gunners twice fall behind after taking a lead early on and eventually getting over the line with the aid of supersubs Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud.
Stoke bolstered their attacking ranks with the loan signing of Jese Rodriguez from Paris Saint-Germain in midweek, meaning that they now have more Champions League winners in their squad than any other side in the division.
Star attacker Alexis Sanchez continues to miss out for the visitors due to a niggling injury issue, meanwhile, though he is back in training and will be in contention for the trip to face Liverpool on August 27.
Elsewhere, Per Mertesacker, Shkodran Mustafi and Francis Coquelin are all expected to be in the squad after missing out last week, while Laurent Koscielny has one final match to serve on the suspension that has carried over from last season.
Stoke City possible starting lineup:
Butland; Zouma, Shawcross, Cameron; Johnson, Allen, Fletcher, Pieters; Shaqiri, Jese, Choupo-Moting
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Cech; Mustafi, Mertesacker, Kolasinac; Bellerin, Xhaka, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Welbeck, Ozil; Lacazette
@uptimistpeters
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