It will be interesting to see the team Mikel Arteta picks when Arsenal welcome Southampton to the Emirates Stadium on Friday evening. The Gunners have dropped points in their previous two games, drawing 2-2 to both Liverpool and West Ham United.
Arteta's side are still four points clear of Manchester City, although Pep Guardiola will be encouraged by the fact his team have a game in hand on the north Londoners. Of course both teams will face each other at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, April 26 and whoever wins will put themselves firmly in the ascendancy in the title race.
Before that, though, Arsenal face Southampton on Friday and Arteta will be keen to increase the Gunners' lead at the top of the table to seven points. With William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko both picking up injuries in recent weeks, however, Arteta has perhaps not had the luxury of rotating his squad as much as he would have liked, which may somewhat offer an explanation as to why the Gunners dropped points against Liverpool and West Ham.
