Ronald Koeman and Arsene Wenger will go toe-to-toe with their three-man defensive formations this Sunday afternoon, with Everton hosting Arsenal at Goodison Park.

Both teams are desperate for a win to move them up the table, but there is real pressure on Everton to gain their first win of the month and pull themselves out of a concerning slump.

Whether it's Koeman's last team selection as Toffees manager will be revealed in the coming days, with pressure sure to build on the owners to pull the trigger should the Dutchman fail to oversee a decent performance against Arsenal.

Koeman goes for youth

He's plumped for a fairly changed team, which includes handing young Jonjoe Kenny a start at right-wing-back, whilst Nikola Vlasic is selected alongside Idrissa Gana Gueye in the middle of the park.

Wayne Rooney starts against the team he made his name against with a fantastic goal in 2002, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Gylfi Sigurdsson joining him in the frontline. 

Ashley Williams, Michael Keane and Phil Jagielka make up the back three, with Leighton Baines and Jordan Pickford completing the Everton XI.

Arsene Wenger's job security isn't quite up in the air as Koeman's, for now, but he'd love a result at Goodison after a costly defeat there last season.

The Gunners lost 2-1 to Ashley Williams' late header, in a week where top-four rivals Liverpool would visit Goodison and win 1-0 thanks to a stoppage time strike from Sadio Mane. Arsenal would go on to miss out on a top-four spot to Liverpool by just a point.

Wenger has resisted the temptation to bring Olivier Giroud and Jack Wilshere back into a Premier League starting XI, despite both putting in good European performances during the week.

The Arsenal boss has put Alexandre Lacazette back in as his starting striker, with Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez also starting, those three selected all together for the first time this season.

Nacho Monreal will start at centre-back again, Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny joining him, with the familiar pairing of Hector Bellerin and Sead Kolasinac at wing-back.

Aaron Ramsey and Granit Xhaka will hope not to be overran by a fairly packed Everton midfield, both will need to keep their discipline in order to help their side achieve a result.

​Everton XI: Pickford; Williams, Jagielka, Keane; Kenny, Gueye, Vlasic, Baines; Sigurdsson, Rooney; Calvert-Lewin.

​Arsenal XI: Cech; Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Bellerin, Xhaka, Ramsey, Kolasinac; Sanchez, Ozil; Lacazette.

 

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