Arsenal predicted line-up vs. Bournemouth: two major changes made as £65m duo miss out

Arsenal will look to continue their bid for a Premier League title this season when they come up against in-form Bournemouth in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off this weekend. The Gunners beat bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur last time out, and are on a run of four wins in five top flight matches.

That streak has left Mikel Arteta’s side top of the table, one point clear of Manchester City, but having played one game more than the defending champions. City come up against Wolves on Saturday evening, and know that a perfect record between now and the end of the season will be enough to secure yet another piece of silverware for Pep Guardiola.

With that in mind, all Arsenal can do is continue to apply pressure where possible, starting with a tricky clash at the Emirates on Saturday. Bournemouth are currently tenth in the table, but are looking to pick up a third successive victory, and boast the third best record in the division over their past nine matches, eclipsed only by Arsenal and City.

But how will both sides line up in North London this weekend? We’ve taken a closer look at their respective team news and predicted starting XIs below...

Arsenal Team News

Arsenal head into the final stage of the campaign with barely any injury concerns to report. Indeed, the only continued absence that Mikel Arteta has to contend with is Dutch defender Jurrien Timber, who suffered an ACL injury on the opening weekend of the Premier League season, and who has been undergoing rehabilitation ever since.

The expectation has been in recent weeks that the full-back could force his way back into a match day squad at any time, but as things stand, that is still yet to happen, although as recently as last week, Arteta was eager to emphasise just how near to a return his player is. Speaking in a press conference, the Spaniard said: 'We have to make that decision tomorrow after the training session. He’s very close. I don’t know if this is too early, but he’s very close now.'

With that in mind, Timber is likely to face another assessment ahead of Saturday’s match, with concrete indication at this stage as to whether or not he will be fully available.

Arsenal Predicted XI

David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Jakub Kiwior; Jorginho, Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard; Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Leandro Trossard.

Bournemouth Team News

For their part, Bournemouth are struggling with all kinds of injury issues. Full-back Ryan Fredericks is not expected to feature again this season, while the likes of Marcus Tavernier, Romain Faivre, and Luis Sinisterra may not be available until the final day of the campaign. Milos Kerkez is serving a three-game suspension, and is definitely ruled out until May 19th.

Elsewhere, there are no return dates outlined for Chris Mepham and Antoine Semenyo, but Tyler Adams and Illia Zabarnyi will both be hopeful of proving that they are ready to return to Andoni Iraola’s match day squad on Saturday afternoon.

Bournemouth Predicted XI

Mark Travers; Max Aarons, Marcos Senesi, Illya Zabarnyi, Lloyd Kelly; Alex Scott, Tyler Adams, Lewis Cook, Justin Kluivert; Enes Unal, Dominic Solanke.