Possible Arsenal XI to face Everton: Aubameyang benched, raft of changes expected

Arsenal's offensive options may have changed significantly over the past few days, but there was a very familiar feeling surrounding their dismal loss to relegation-battling Swansea City on Tuesday evening (30 January).

The Gunners' struggles outside of north London were magnified once again as goals from Sam Clucas and Jordan Ayew condemned them to their seventh league defeat of the campaign - six of those have come away from The Emirates Stadium.

Arsene Wenger needs to find a remedy to his side's homesickness if they are to have any chance of regaining a spot in the top four, but the Frenchman will hope Arsenal can revel in comforts on Saturday when Everton come to town.

Sam Allardyce's side secured a much-needed win over Leicester City on Wednesday but, like their opponents this weekend, they have struggled to find any sort of form away from home.

The Toffees have certainly come unstuck on their travels over the last 12 months, and their recent away record against Arsenal certainly makes for grim reading; they haven't beaten the Gunners on their own patch for over 22 years, when goals from Graham Stuart and Andrei Kanchelskis handed them a 2-1 victory in 1996.

Allardyce et al will hope their dismal record at Highbury/The Emirates miraculously changes this weekend, but Arsenal will no doubt be encouraged by their imperious home form and recent 5-2 victory over the Toffees in October - the result which brought to an end Ronald Koeman's tenure on Merseyside.

Alexis Sanchez, Alexandre Lacazette and Mesut Ozil all ran riot in the autumn sunshine at Goodison but the Chilean has since been replaced by Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and their respective arrivals may force Wenger into making major changes to the personnel and system currently utilised in north London.

Wenger may be tempted to deploy both Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang from the start against Everton, but the Gabon international will have only been involved in two training sessions with his new teammates before Saturday, while the Armenian, who looked lively during his cameo appearance against the Swans in midweek, has had the best part of two weeks to get used to his new surroundings and is already accustomed to the rigours of the Premier League.

Aubameyang's quality is undisputed, his goal return astonishing, but it may be in both his and Arsenal's best interests to start the clash with Everton from the substitutes' bench, especially with the north London derby looming.

Wenger may also be interested to see what sort of reaction he will get from Lacazette, whose form has been called into question in recent weeks. The Frenchman probably would not have expected a player like Aubameyang to arrive so soon after his £52m move from Lyon, and he will want to remind his manager and the rest of the Arsenal fans of his revered talents before Aubameyang gets his feet fully under table. The France international will likely be flanked by Mesut Ozil and Mkhitaryan, with Alex Iwobi the one to make way.

Ozil and Mkhitaryan are far from conventional wide players and will almost certainly roam from the touchline and link up Lacazette, who has scored once in his last 12 matches. The pair's tendency to drift in the final third could be complemented by a full-back pairing of Sead Kolasinac and Hector Bellerin; their athleticism and willingness to make an impact in offensive areas will afford Arsenal the width that will not be consistently provided by Ozil and Mkhitaryan, the latter who flourished on the left and right flanks during his final season at Borussia Dortmund.

The reintegration of Kolasinac could see Nacho Monreal partner Laurent Koscielny at centre-half, with Shkodran Mustafi's inconsistency becoming a real bugbear among Arsenal supporters. Much was made of Petr Cech's gaffe against Swansea but the former Chelsea star will re-assume his position between the sticks against Everton, with David Ospina having to wait until the resumption of the Europa League in order to receive any meaningful minutes.

In central midfield, Jack Wilshere will be hoping to recover from illness in time to feature against the Toffees. Arsenal missed the 26-year-old's dynamism and ability to control the speed of the game in south Wales, and he will presumably replace Mohamed Elneny and partner up with Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka, who will in turn be given more defensive responsibilities.