Martin Keown thinks Mikel Arteta will do something ‘completely different’ against Nottingham Forest

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Martin Keown believes Mikel Arteta will try something he’s never done before for Arsenal against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Arsenal host Forest at the Emirates in what will be Ange Postecoglou’s first match as the East Midlanders’ boss, following the sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo.

The Australian was appointed as the new manager after Espirito Santo fell out with Edu Gaspar, with this rift prompting owner Evangelos Marinakis to make the change.

Arteta will have a number of key team selection decisions to make, which may ultimately be impacted by how Postecoglou sets his team up just a few days into his reign.

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Martin Keown says Mikel Arteta will start a new front three vs Nottingham Forest

There will be a few questions facing Arteta regarding his front three going into the game against Forest.

Bukayo Saka will be unavailable due to a hamstring injury, meaning Noni Madueke will likely start on the right.

Meanwhile, Viktor Gyokeres likely retains his place down the middle due to Kai Havertz’s absence, despite the Swede struggling against Liverpool.

However, on the left, Arteta has to make a decision about whether to stick with the struggling Gabriel Martinelli or bring new signing Eberechi Eze into the starting line-up.

Keown is convinced that the head coach will go for the latter and will field an entirely new front three who haven’t played together for Arsenal before.

“Tomorrow we will probably see a completely new front three,” Keown said on talkSPORT.

“Madueke will play, he’ll be playing down the middle, the player we are talking about [Gyokeres], and then on the left, Eze will probably come in.

“They’ll probably play with two 10s tomorrow.”

Arsenal may struggle early on against Nottingham Forest

Keown’s prediction regarding Arsenal’s front three is probably correct.

Eze will likely come in for Martinelli, meaning it’ll be a new look attack for the Gunners against Postecoglou’s side.

While Eze and Madueke have played together for England, the man in between them, Gyokeres, hasn’t played with the former and has hardly played with the latter yet.

This lack of existing chemistry could mean Arsenal look somewhat dysfunctional in offensive areas early on against Forest, particularly in the early stages.

It could even be the case that they struggle to break Postecoglou’s outfit down in the first half, and rely on a set-piece goal to open the game up, before this quick front three can really exploit the opposition.