It’s time for Arsenal to stand up and be counted this weekend with them beginning to look threatened of being cut adrift by the rest of the Premier League title challengers.

Indeed, whilst the rest of the title contenders are looking in good form at the moment it’s Arsenal who have slightly waned in recent weeks with them dropping points and putting in poor displays.

They’re still in touch, of course, so there’s no need to panic just yet but if they can’t reignite their early season form soon, the local Gunners here in the Transfer Tavern will start to get their backs up.

It’s a crucial period for Arsene Wenger, then, as the Gunners play Swansea City on Saturday and with the Swans battling relegation – they could be in for a battle.

Our landlord can only see one outcome, though, and that’s an Arsenal win – providing they play this XI…

GK: Petr Cech

Cech’s been there, seen it, done it in terms of the title race and will be looking to use that knowledge. He’s surely drumming into his team-mates how important it is to kick-on now.

RB: Hector Bellerin

Bellerin should have shaken off a slight knock for this one. Our local Gunners are certainly hope so, too, with their back up for him far from good enough.

CB: Shkodran Mustafi

A lot of our Arsenal punters here in the Transfer Tavern have been loving this guy’s performances. For our landlord, though, the jury is still firmly out.

CB: Laurent Koscielny

For a man of Koscielny’s talents you have to wonder if he’s thought about a move before. He deserves to win a league title somewhere.

LB: Nacho Monreal

Looking at Arsenal’s options for left back you have to wonder why they’ve not bought someone in. Nevertheless, it’s going to be Monreal that starts here.

CDM: Francis Coquelin

You’ve got to hand it to Coquelin – he’s really come on this season. Now he just needs to add a few more goals and a creative edge to his game.

CDM: Granit Xhaka

Xhaka still has much to prove. It’s fairly safe to say that he has not quite lived up to the expectations of him from the summer.

RAM: Alex Iwobi

With Walcott out, Wenger will need to shuffle his pack. We expect Iwobi to come out to the right and it’ll be interesting to see how he adapts.

CAM: Mesut Ozil

There’s still a question mark over this man in the big games. Nevertheless, against Swansea – with all due respect to the Swans – we expect him to play well.