Arsenal team news vs Bournemouth and predicted lineup | OneFootball

Arsenal are set to face Bournemouth in the Premier League as they look to finish as runners-up for a third year on the bounce, putting more focus on the Champions League semi-final midweek.

The game at the Emirates Stadium kicks off at 5:30pm on Saturday and will be shown on Sky Sports Main Event.

Arsenal predicted lineup vs Bournemouth

Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya; White, Saliba, Kiwior, Zinchenko; Partey, Rice, Nwaneri; Sterling, Merino, Trossard.

Arsenal team news vs Bournemouth

Mikel Arteta will remain without the likes of Gabriel, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ricardo Calafiori, Jorginho, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz who are all set to remain sidelined due to injury problems. As well as being without Neto, who will be ineligible against his parent club.

Arsenal will likely look to rotate their lineup to face the Cherries, now looking ahead to next week against Paris Saint-Germain where they must travel to the Parc des Princes and recover from a 1-0 deficit in order to reach the Champions League final.

This could see Ethan Nwaneri earn a start either in place of Martin Odegaard or Bukayo Saka, while Myles Lewis-Skelly could be rested for someone like Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Ethan Nwaneri to take over?

With Arsenal placing more emphasis on the Champions League it could be good news for Nwaneri who has seen a decrease to his minutes since the return of Bukayo Saka in the first-team, only managing 38 minutes in his last three appearances.

However, the 18-year-old has some brilliant underlying metrics this season for the Gunners, averaging 5.44 take-ons attempted per 90 minutes and 3.56 take-ons completed — more than any Arsenal player. Nwaneri has also averaged 0.44 goals with 0.22 assists per 90.

Nwaneri has shown his versatility already, playing from the right but having the quality to both hold the width and drift inside to play in the right half space, receiving the ball in tight spaces and making things happen.

Perhaps his best trait is the ability to put inswinging crosses into the box, cutting inside on his strong left foot from the right, putting the ball in a dangerous area for his team-mates. This is something the likes of Saka and Lamine Yamal do at an exceptional level and Nwaneri is already showing signs of this signature move.

Whether he starts in place of Odegaard or Saka, Nwaneri would have a lot of freedom on that right hand side to make things happen, with willing runners ahead of him and even a box presence such as Merino to aim for. This could give Arsenal a good chance at picking up all three points even with a rested XI.