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Arsenal team news vs Huddersfield: Predicted line up – Injury crisis continues, Ozil snub
ARSENAL continue to be plagued by injury concerns ahead of their clash with Premier League strugglers Huddersfield Town on Saturday (3pm).
Arsenal have a number of injury problems to contend with when they travel to face Huddersfield at the John Smith’s Stadium this weekend.
Unai Emery’s side has been decimated by fitness issues in recent weeks and the selection problems show no sign of easing in the near future.
Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding (both ACL) and Sokratis Papastathopoulos (ankle) are all sidelined while Ainsley Maitland-Niles (knee) is also a doubt and will be assessed ahead of kick-off.
Added to these defensive worries, Shkodran Mustafi was forced off with a back injury last time out in the 3-1 defeat to Manchester City but has returned to training.
With so many absentees, Bernd Leno and Laurent Koscielny remain the only automatic picks in the Arsenal rearguard.
Nacho Monreal has deputised as an emergency centre-back in recent weeks and could move there again, having started at left-back against City.
Sead Kolasinac should drop back from a left wing role into the full-back slot while Stephan Lichtsteiner is most likely to line up on the other flank.
Konstantinos Mavropanos came on for Mustafi against City and is an option for Emery in central defence while Carl Jenkinson is in contention for a rare start if Lichtsteiner is overlooked.
Meanwhile, Granit Xhaka (groin) remains a doubt so Denis Suarez could be handed his full Premier League debut alongside Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi in central midfield.
Alex Iwobi is expected to drop out after a glaring error in a below-par performance at the Etihad, with Aaron Ramsey set to start ahead of Mesut Ozil yet again.
Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang should retain their places in attack, with the Frenchman having scored in two of his last three league matches.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan returned to action with the U23s in midweek and could make the matchday squad but Danny Welbeck is out for the rest of the season.
Arsenal predicted line-up vs Huddersfield Town – Premier League
(4-3-1-2): Lichtsteiner; Koscielny, Monreal, Kolasinac; Guendouzi, Torreira, Suarez; Ramsey; Lacazette, Aubameyang