Brighton and Hove Albion captain Lewis Dunk returns to the heart of the defence alongside Jan Paul van Hecke as the Fabian Hürzeler’s side prepare to face title-chasing Arsenal.
Van Hecke returns after illness while Dunk and Diego Gomez are back from a pone-match suspension. Gomez has also been named in the starting line up today (Saturday 27 December).
The inclusion of Dunk, Van Hecke and Gomez are the only three changes made by Hürzeler from the starting line against Sunderland last Saturday (20 December). The match ended goalless.
Today, Georginio Rutter starts up front as former Gunner Danny Welbeck is down as a sub for the match at the Emirates.
Rutter is supported by a midfield that includes Gomez and Brajan Gruda as well as Maxim De Cuyper, Jack Hinshelwood, Yasin Ayari and Ferdi Kadioglu.
Diego Coppola is at the back with Dunk and Ven Hecke, with Bart Verbruggen in goal.
Three players who started last week drop to the bench – Olivier Boscagli, Yankuba Minteh and Mats Wieffer.
As well as Welbeck, they are joined by Tom Watson, Joel Veltman, James Milner, Charalampos Kostoulas and reserve keeper Jason Steele.
Mikel Arteta has made eight changes from the side that started against Crystal Palace in the League Cup quarter-final on Tuesday (23 December) when the Gunners won 8-7 on penalties after the match was tied 1-1 after extra time.
Ecuador defender Piero Hincapie returns in defence alongside William Saliba. David Raya is back in goal. And five players who started Arsenal’s last Premier League match – a 1-0 win at Everton – return to the starting XI this afternoon.
Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka are back, along with former Seagull Leandro Trossard and Viktor Gyokeres who spent three and a half years with Albion, most of it out on loan elsewhere.
The game is due to kick off at 3pm, with Arsenal currently second in the Premier League table after Manchester City won 2-1 at Nottingham Forest in the lunchtime match today.
Arsenal have 39 points from 17 games while ninth-place Brighton have 24 points from the same number of matches.
