Two teams that are on the opposite side of the Premier League standings are clashing on Saturday, when league leaders Arsenal will be hosting bottom-feeders Middlesbrough at the Emirates Stadium in London. Arsenal have been stellar lately, and they should be able to extend their winning streak with ease.
Arsenal (6-1-1) have been trully impressive so far in the season. After that tough 4-3 loss against Liverpool at the season opener, Arsenal have gone undefeated till today (9-0-2) in all competitions. That includes victories over Ludogorets and Basel for the Champions League and a victory against Nottingham Forest for the EFL Cup. Coach Arsene Wenger will most likely win manager of the month, as Arsenal have been the best team in the Premier League winning all their matches. Arsenal are tied with Manchester City for the top spot in the Premier League, while the two teams are also at the top of the scoring section, as they haev both scored 19 goals each. Arsenal have only lost to Liverpool at home this season, while they have won the rest of their home matches. They have the best home offense with 11 goals scored, but also the 3rd worst home defense with 7 goals conceded. Arsenal will once again be deprived of the services of several of their players, as Ramsey, Welbeck, Mertesacker and Akpom are still injured, Giroud is also nursing an injury and is doubtful to participate, while Granit Xhaka is suspended for receiving a red card.
On the other hand, newly promoted Middlesbrough (1-4-3) are struggling to remain outside the danger zone as they are sitting at the 17th spot with just as many points as the 18th placed Stoke City. Middlesbrough are the exact opposite of Arsenal this season – after 2 successful results in the first 2 matches, Middlesbrough have been unable to record a win ever since. They only managed to take 2 draws on the road, against West Brom and West Ham, but have lost the other 4 matches (0-4-2). What is noteworthy, is the fact that Middlesbrough have gathered more points in their road games than they have at home (1-2-1). In their most recent match, they were defeated by Watford at home by 1-0. It was a frustrating loss, as Middlesbrpugh deserved at least one point from that match. Their opponents scored the only goal of the match at the 54th minute, in one of their 2 shots on target. Middlesbrough look unable to cope with Premier League’s demands, and the pressure is starting to mount on coach Aitor Karanka. Their history in the match-up against Arsenal isn’t good either, as it has been 12 years since Middlesbrough’s last victory against Arsenal on the road (2-9-3 overall). Middlesbrough will have some injury problems as well, as Leadbitter and Husband will be unavailable, while Fabio is questionable.