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Kaya Kaynak

Willian starts again, but no Lacazette or Maitland-Niles - Arsenal predicted XI vs Burnley

Arsenal welcome 2,000 fans back to the Emirates Stadium for Premier League action against Burnley on Sunday.

The Gunners will be hoping the supporters can give them the added boost they need after three home losses on the bounce in the league.

In Sean Dyche's side they face one of the few sides who have netted fewer goals than them in the division this season. The Clarets have just five strikes, while Mikel Arteta's team have managed just 10 goals in 11 Premier League matches.

Speaking before the game the Spaniard admitted that his men need to start changing that very soon.

Arsenal vs Burnley - Match Preview

"At the end of the day we need to start winning football matches immediately" he said. "We cannot sustain the results we had in the last six to eight weeks and that has to be immediately and we know that has to start on Sunday."

In the Europa League however, Arsenal have been free scoring, managing 20 goals in just six matches. The Gunners are the only team in Europe this season to have finished the group stages with a 100% record, and this may well tempt Arteta to turn to some of his second string in order to get a much needed three points.

One man who is unlikely to make it into the Premier League team off the back of his European form however, is Runar Alex Runarsson. The Iceland international was unconvincing yet again during the 4-2 victory over Dundalk and fans will be hoping Bernd Leno doesn't pick up any injuries.

In front of the German it's difficult to predict whether Arteta will stick with the back three we saw in Ireland or revert to the 4-2-3-1 he has used in recent Premier League matches. Given the fitness doubts over David Luiz, and the fact that Calum Chambers and Pablo Mari played 90 minutes for the first time this season on Thursday, you would assume it will be a four with Gabriel and Rob Holding resuming their partnership.

The pair have been vital to ensuring that Arsenal are the only Premier League side not to concede from a set piece this season, and with Burnley's considerable dead ball threat you would expect Arteta to play them again. Hector Bellerin will start at right back and hope to go a match without taking a foul throw, while Kieran Tierney will continue at left back.

There has been a clamour in recent weeks to have Ainsley Maitland-Niles used in his preferred midfield position. The England international has been tremendous in Europe but started just twice in the league. The fact that he played the full 90 means he's unlikely to be given a chance from the off on Sunday, but surely we can expect to see him used at some point.

Several Arsenal youngsters could be in line for a start against Burnley. ((Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images))

Mohamed Elneny was withdrawn in Dublin after just 62 minutes however, which means that we could see him make his first Premier League start since his COVID-19 diagnosis over the international break. Expect Dani Ceballos to feature alongside him as the only player in the Arsenal squad capable of penetrating Burnley's tight defence from deep. This aside Granit Xhaka's awful performance against Spurs means he's unlikely to start again.

Following the same pattern of using Arteta's actions on Thursday to predict the line up on Sunday expect Joe Willock to return in the number 10 position. Alex Lacazette was good against Tottenham but the fact that he was crowded out by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Moussa Sissoko means he will almost definitely struggle in that role against Sean Dyche's side.

Emile Smith Rowe will surely at least be on the bench after registering three goal involvements in just three Europa League appearances this season.

On the left Bukayo Saka has been one of the few bright sparks for Arsenal this season so will surely play. Nicolas Pepe's suspension and the concussion Reiss Nelson sustained in training means that Willian is likely to continue on the right, much to the disappointment of many an Arsenal fan.

Up front Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has a fantastic record of seven goals in five games against Burnley and he'll be hoping that can spur him on to score his first goal for the Gunners in over a month. Eddie Nketiah will feel disappointed not be starting after becoming Arsenal's top scorer this season with his goal in midweek, while Folarin Balogun is unlikely to be involved at all.

Predicted XI: Leno; Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney; Elneny, Ceballos; Willian, Willock, Saka; Aubameyang

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