One of the reasons Leeds United fans were so frustrated off the back of their defeat to Crystal Palace on Sunday was the fact that the team up next for Jesse Marsch’s men is Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Leeds face the Gunners off the back of a five-game winless run. The slide down the table has been alarming. Meanwhile, Arsenal are absolutely flying so far.
The game could really go either way. The Gunners took an injury-ravaged Leeds apart at Elland Road last year. And some supporters will be absolutely fearing the worst.
Sinisterra starts, Rodrigo drops out: Leeds predicted lineup against Arsenal
Leeds’ best performance of the campaign so far came against Chelsea. Obviously, the Blues were incredibly poor that day. But their desire to stamp their authority on the game played right into our hands.
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And Arsenal are definitely going to look to set the tempo on Sunday.
Facing such a daunting task may bring the best out of Leeds. But realistically, we need everything to go our way to stand a decent chance of getting a good result – including having Jesse Marsch pick the right side.
Now, I did wonder if we would be better off using a system that includes a back three with Rasmus Kristensen and Jack Harrison as wing-backs. But it is incredibly hard to imagine Marsch deviating that much from his preferred system.
In fact, the lineup will surely look incredibly similar to the one which faced Palace at Selhurst Park – with one notable change.
Luis Sinisterra is back available after serving a suspension.
Marsch is opening himself up to real criticism if he does not use Sinisterra against Arsenal. He is a potential game-changer the Leeds boss has previously labelled ‘fantastic‘. We were crying out for him against Palace.
And the player who should drop out is Rodrigo. Unfortunately, he did not have the best day against the Eagles. He has not looked the same player when used as a number 10 this season.
With that in mind, here is the predicted lineup in full…
GK: Illan Meslier
RB: Rasmus Kristensen
CB: Robin Koch
CB: Liam Cooper
LB: Pascal Struijk
DM: Tyler Adams
DM: Marc Roca
RW: Jack Harrison
AM: Brenden Aaronson
LW: Luis Sinisterra
ST: Patrick Bamford