How Arsenal could line up against Manchester United

Arsenal will be looking to begin 2020 better than they ended 2019 when they welcome rivals Manchester United to the Emirates Stadium on New Year's Day.

The Gunners go into the match having won just one of their last 15 outings across all competitions, including four successive home defeats for the first time in 60 years.

The latest of those saw them collapse in the final 10 minutes as Chelsea came from behind to win 2-1 on Sunday, leaving Mikel Arteta still searching for his first win as manager.

Here, Sports Mole looks at how he could line his side up for the contest.

Out: Calum Chambers (knee), Sead Kolasinac (ankle), Sokratis Papastathopoulos (concussion), Kieran Tierney (shoulder) Doubtful: Hector Bellerin (hamstring), Gabriel Martinelli (hamstring), Dani Ceballos (hamstring), Granit Xhaka (illness), Rob Holding (knee)

> Click here for Arsenal's latest injury and suspension news ahead of this match

Arsenal already had to contend with a lengthy injury list before Calum Chambers limped off after only 23 minutes of the defeat to Chelsea, with the centre-back seemingly set for another extended spell on the sidelines.

Shkodran Mustafi replaced him on Sunday and could be thrown in from the start in this one, with Sokratis Papastathopoulos unlikely to be rushed back having suffered concussion less than a week ago.

The positive news on the injury front is that as many as five players are close to returning, with Bellerin, Martinelli, Ceballos, Holding and Xhaka all set to be assessed ahead of this match.

Xhaka is considered the most likely to be available following illness, although the ongoing speculation regarding his future beyond January may play a part in his selection.

The need to keep his squad fresh will come into Arteta's thinking too, although wholesale changes are unlikely considering the improved display against Chelsea and the opportunity of an FA Cup weekend coming up to rotate.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has scored in each of the last three meetings with United, and Alexandre Lacazette are once again expected to start, then, while Reiss Nelson and Mesut Ozil could also keep their places having impressed against Chelsea.

Record signing Nicolas Pepe is among those pushing for a start, but the winger seemingly has work to do to force his way into Arteta's first-team plans.

Click here to see how Manchester United could line up for this contest