Arsenal Team News: Injuries, Suspensions and Alignment against Southampton

Arsenal could make big progress in the race to fourth place when it will host Southampton, threatened with relegation, to the Emirates in the Premier League on Sunday.

The Gunners are currently in fifth place, tied for points with Chelsea and one point behind Manchester United. A win against the Saints could put them in fourth place if the Red Devils lost points against Liverpool on Sunday.

The Unai Emery team has an impressive record in Emirates, undefeated in its last 12 home games and winning the last six games in a row.

The main injuries of Emery concern Danny Welbeck, Rob Holding, Hector Bellerin and Konstantinos Mavropanos.

Laurent Koscielny is uncertain for the match after being forced to leave the field in the 56th minute when Arsenal won on BATE in the Europa League.

Achille's problem with the French has troubled him in recent campaigns, but he has managed to make 12 appearances in the first team so far this season.

Neither party has suspensions.

Mesut Ozil returned to the starting lineup in the 3-0 win in the Europa League on Thursday, after being ruled out of the team for the previous week's match.

Emery could be tempted to stay with the formation that beat Huddersfield 2-1 on their last outing in the Premier League, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette and new coach Denis Suarez buckling the attack.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos is a central starting option alongside Shkodran Mustafi if Koscielny is considered unfit, and will remain in Emery's thoughts after defeating BATE in the European League.

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Southampton could be offered a triple boost with players such as Stuart Armstrong, Mario Lemina and Michael Obafemi, all potentially on the line to return for Sunday's clash with Arsenal.

Armstrong has been absent since February 2, while Lemina and Obafemi have not played for the Saints since December 2018.

• Arsenal are undefeated in their last 23 home games against Southampton (W17, D6) since their 0-1 defeat in November 1987.
• Arsenal are unbeaten in 12 Premier League home games (W10 D2), winning the last six games in a row. Against opponents starting in the relegation zone, the Gunners have won their last 30 games in Emirates since the 4-4 draw against Tottenham in October 2008.
• Arsenal to have has conceded 999 goals in the Premier League and could become the eighth team to concede the 1000m in the competition.
• No player has scored more Premier League goals this season than Arsenal's Alexandre Lacazette – 8 of France's 10 goals in the Premier League were the winner of the match.
• Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has scored nine goals in his last six Premier League appearances at Emirates for Arsenal (6 goals, 3 badists).

The kickoff is given Sunday at 14:05 GMT (09:05 ET) and will not be televised in the UK. It will be livestreamed on NBC Sports Gold in the United States and on various channels around the world.