Honestly, these predicted line ups had become pretty perfunctory affairs over the past few weeks. With such a small squad so many players performing to a high level, the Arsenal squad largely picked itself save for a dilemma between Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli. In the space of a few hours though, that has all changed.
The Gunners have now been deprived of two of their most important players due to long term injuries. Kieran Tierney will be out for the rest of the season while the early prognosis on Thomas Partey is not much better. "He could be," Mikel Arteta said when asked in his pre-match press conference if the Ghanaian might be absent for the rest of the campaign. "But, he it could not be the case because it’s an area where he had a previous injury as well and he felt it straight away. He’s not fit."
There is slightly better news on Takehiro Tomiyasu, who is hoping to return to training on April 16th ahead of crucial clashes with Manchester United and Chelsea. However, with three of his first choice line up out, there are suddenly a whole host of selection headaches that Arteta has to contend with.
READ MORE: Saka at left-back, Martinelli up top - The Arsenal team Mikel Arteta should pick vs Brighton
Goalkeeper is not one of them as Aaron Ramsdale looked good on his return from injury against Crystal Palace despite conceding three. In front of him though is where the real dilemmas begin.
Arteta has several options available to him when it comes to setting up his backline. Nuno Tavares ' display against Crystal Palace on Monday night suggested that he could not be trusted to fulfil the same withdrawn role that Tierney has done in recent weeks, and as a result it seems an adaptation away from the 4-3-3 that has worked so well for Arsenal in recent weeks will be a tough dose of medicine that the Gunners have to take.
Switching to a back three is an option with the personnel available. This would appear to get the best out of Tavares and Cedric over on the other side, given that both Portuguese full backs are better in the final third, but it's unlikely Arteta will want to sacrifice one of his more creative players further up the pitch.
As a result, the back four is probably what he stick with, and while there have been suggestions that the Spaniard is flirting with the idea of moving Granit Xhaka out to left back or dropping Bukayo Saka back from the right wing, his press conference appeared to indicate that Tavares is the man he'll stick with. When asked about the 22-year-old, Arteta revealed he'd held conversations with him to explain the decision to haul him off before the second half for the second time in as many starts and called for the former Benfica man to bounce back stronger.
"Obviously I speak with the players and I spoke with Nuno because I care a lot how they feel," the Spaniard said. "We are to help them and make their careers better. That was a decision that hurt him obviously, but he understands that it was for the benefit of the team, that I believed it was for the benefit of the team. He respects that and now he needs to react to that situation because it’s a great opportunity to learn a lot in that period of your career."
Tavares seems likely to stay in the same back four as on Monday but he'll be hoping that Gabriel can do him a few more favours this time, after the Brazilian's own shaky display at Crystal Palace. Ben White will be determined to impress against his old club, while Cedric is set to continue.
This, though, is likely to necessitate a change in midfield. Albert Sambi Lokonga impressed as the lone pivot after coming on for the stricken Partey, but the context of the game is important to understand when assessing the viability of Arteta deploying him there again. Arsenal were chasing the match and at that point were 3-0 down. It's hard to see such a gung-ho approach being utilised this weekend.
Instead, Sambi will most likely come into a double pivot alongside Granit Xhaka, who will be back in the deeper lying role that he played last season in order to cover for the gallivanting runs of Tavares. It's the role the Swiss prefers, even if his manager has shown himself to be more in favour of change recently.
Despite switching away from the 4-3-3, Arteta will surely want to keep some of the things from it that have worked well in recent weeks. The right handed pod of Cedric, Saka and Martin Odegaard is one of those, so expect the Norwegian to drift to this area of the pitch despite being more nominally a No.10.
The formation switch may also impact Arteta's decision on who he plays at left wing. When Tavares starred in the side around October, it was Emile Smith Rowe who was tearing it up on the left wing ahead of him. The England international's inclination to drift further infield meshes that bit better with Tavares' overlapping game than the touchline-hugging start position Gabriel Martinelli often finds himself taking up, and that may just swing things in his favour.
Up front, Alexandre Lacazette was targeted by Patrick Vieira 's Palace on Monday and largely snuffed out of the game as a result. He now has gone over 19 hours without a goal in open play, but Arteta continues to stand by his captain.
"Laca's contribution to the team in many other ways has been phenomenal," the Spanaird said in his pre-match press conference. "Of course, we want the strikers to score goals and we know that when we're winning games as well and we require them to do that, so nothing has changed."
It speaks to the paucity of options Arsenal have up top that the alternatives to a striker on such a barren run are so unconvincing that Arteta seems unlikely to drop Lacazette. With Champions League places up for stake and change afoot elsewhere in the team, now is probably not the time to be trying new experiments in the team unless they are truly necessary.
Arsenal predicted XI vs Brighton - Ramsdale; Cedric, White, Gabriel, Tavares; Sambi Lokonga, Xhaka; Saka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe; Lacazette.
