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Arsenal vs Burnley: David Luiz and Nicolas Pepe to be unleashed? Burnley to stick with same XI?

August 17, 2019 /

It’s GameDay on talkSPORT and our action kicks off with Arsenal vs Burnley.

Both sides won their opening matches of the 2019/20 Premier League season so something’s got to give and you can listen to the action at the Emirates Stadium LIVE at 12:30pm.

Arsenal came through a tough test at Newcastle by winning 1-0 while Burnley dispatched Southampton at Turf Moor.

The game could see a number of the Gunners’ new signings including Nicolas Pepe make their debuts for the club but how might both sides line up?

Below you can see talkSPORT.com’s predicted Arsenal and Burnley XIs for talkSPORT’s first GameDay commentary on Saturday.

LIVE on talkSPORT

talkSPORT is your home of live football! Here's what's coming up this weekend….

  • Arsenal vs Burnley (Saturday, 12.30pm) – talkSPORT
  • Sunderland vs Portsmouth (Saturday, 12.30pm) – talkSPORT 2
  • Norwich City vs Newcastle United (Saturday, 3pm) – talkSPORT 2
  • Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur (Saturday, 5.30pm) – talkSPORT
  • Reading vs Cardiff City (Sunday, 12pm) – talkSPORT 2

Arsenal

This game is the perfect opportunity for Arsenal to showcase some of their new players so David Luiz may start at centre-back alongside Sokratis Papastathopoulos.

Full-backs Kieran Tierney and Hector Bellerin are still out so we’ve gone with Nacho Monreal and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who played against Newcastle at left and right-back respectively.

Unai Emery could opt for a midfield three and this could see on loan Real Madrid man Dani Ceballos make his full Arsenal debut while Granit Xhaka and Matteo Guendouzi may occupy the other spots.

Up front is where the magic could be happening though with highly-rated winger Nicolas Pepe surely in line to play following his £72million move from Lille.

And he could feature in a front three with strikers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette with Aubameyang likely to play on the left as he has experience there.

It’s not clear whether Mesut Ozil and Sead Kolasinac will be available due to fears over their security following an attempted carjacking on the pair in north London last month although they have returned to training this week.

Burnley

Sean Dyche has no new injury concerns ahead of this match so it wouldn’t be surprising if he named the same team as last week.

This XI worked well to beat Southampton 3-0 so why not go with a formula that clearly works?

Ashley Barnes, who bagged a brace against Saints, will be keen to get stuck into Arsenal’s still potentially shaky defence.

There’s no guarantee Luiz will be at his best as the former Chelsea man has a tendency to play with his heart too much and not with his head.

Danny Drinkwater is unlikely to start for the Clarets as he looks to get his match fitness back but Charlie Taylor is available.

Meanwhile, Steven Defour and Robbie Brady have returned to light training following respective calf and rib injuries but will not feature in this match.

Saturday is GameDay on talkSPORT and talkSPORT 2 as we become your go to destination for all the Premier League action. We’ll bring you LIVE commentary of Premier League games across all three time slots on Saturday – 12.30pm, 3pm and 5.30pm – kicking off with Arsenal vs Burnley.

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