The key point here is: goodness me, what a squad Arsenal have bought. They have two players for every position, almost all of them are physical brutes, and though there will be a few they can’t do without for a period because the best players are irreplaceable, they look very strong. It might not be enough for the title – they lack, perhaps the attacking verve that means you rarely get involved in close games – but this time, they’re not running out of steam.
Lots of changes at the Emirates. Arsenal make three, with White, Odegaard and Madueke coming in; Timber, Eze and Saka drop out. Oh, and Gyokeres and Jesus are back on the bench after spells out with injury.
Brentford, meanwhile, make five alterations. Igot Thiago, their top scorer in on the bench and so are Hickey, Damsgaard, Henderson and Collins; Henry, Pinnock, Yarmoliuk Janelt and Ajer replace them.
Arsenal: Raya, White, Mosquera, Hincapie, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Rice, Odegaard, Madueke, Martinelli, Merino. Subs: Kepa, Timber, Lewis-Skelly, Norgaard, Nwaneri, Eze, Saka, Jesus, Gyokeres.
Brentford: Kelleher, Kayode, Ajer, Pinnock, Van den Berg, Henry, Jensen, Yarmoliuk, Janelt, Schade, Ouattara. Subs: Valdimarsson, Henderson, Thiago, Onyeka, Collins, Lewis-Potter, Damsgaard, Arthur, Donovan.
**
Brighton: Verbruggen; Dunk, Van Hecke, Gruda, Kadioglu; Baleba, Wieffer; Tzimas, Minteh, Gomez; De Cuyper. Subs: Steele, Hinshelwood, Welbeck, Kostoulas, Boscagli, Veltman, Coppola, Knight, Oriola.
Aston Villa: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen; Kamara, Onana; McGinn, Rogers, Guessand; Watkins. Subs: Bizot, Digne, Lindelof, Garcia, Bogarde, Tielemans, Sancho, Buendia, Malen.
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Burnley: Dubravka, Walker, Esteve, Ekdal, Hartman, Florentino, Cullen, Tchaouna, Anthony, Foster, Flemming. Subs: Weiss, Worrall, Bruun Larsen, Ugochukwu, Edwards, Pires, Broja, Hannibal, Laurent.
Crystal Palace: Henderson, Munoz, Richards, Lacroix, Guehi, Mitchell, Lerma, Wharton, Kamada, Pino, Mateta. Subs: Matthews, Benitez, Nketiah, Uche, Clyne, Hughes, Esse, Canvot, Devenny.
**
Wolves: Johnstone, Tchatchoua, Agbadou, Mosquera, Toti, Wolfe, Andre, Gomes, Bellegarde, Arias, Strand Larsen. Subs: Sa, Doherty, Bueno, Munetsi, Hwang, Arokodare, Chirewa, Hoever, Mane.
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Savona, Morato, Milenkovic, Williams, Sangare, Anderson, Ndote, Gibbs-White, Hutchinson, Igor. Subs: Abbott, Dominguez, Hudson-Odoi, Kalimuendo, Victor, McAtee, Cunha, Yates, Boly.
There are certain types of day that are good for football: clear, crisp ones; surface-slickening drizzly ones; matter-of-principle hosing down with rain ones; snowy orange-ball ones; or, in other words, a kick-about is always a blinding idea.
But how many decent matches do you see in that nause of a lunchtime slot? Some, of course – one of the first was one of the best, Crystal Palace 4-3 Liverpool in the 1990 FA Cup semi-final – but generally speaking, the craziest stuff happens at night. Just look at last evening, for example, which gave us ridiculous wildness in two out of three fixtures.
So we can approach today with hope. At the top of the table, Arsenal will hope to restore their five-point lead, but know Brentford are wise to the set-piece ruse; at the Amex, it’s fifth against fourth as Brighton entertain Villa; Burnley and Wolves, second-bottom and bottom, are scrapping for home points against Palace and Forest respectively; Chelsea, on a bit of a buzz, visit old friends Leeds; and Liverpool, who’ve lost six in eight, welcome to Anfield a Sunderland side fresh off their latest miraculous victory. Or, in other words, this could be mayham.
Kick-offs: Arsenal v Brentford, Brighton v Villa, Burnley v Palace and Wolves v Forest: 7.30pm GMT. Leeds v Chelsea and Liverpool v Sunderland 8.15pm GMT.