Coming off the back of a 4-1 midweek win in Basel, Arsenal are in good form as they prepare for a meeting with Stoke on Saturday.

The Gunners head into the fixture just three points behind league leaders Chelsea and can leapfrog The Blues for at least a day with victory at The Emirates.

A number of players would have impressed Arsene Wenger in what was their final Champions League group game. Basel were disappointing, but Alexis Sanchez and co were inspired.

Not least by teammate Lucas Perez. The summer signing bagged himself a hat-trick – his first for the club since his £17m move from Deportivo La Coruna. The striker’s goals in Switzerland has put him in the running for a long awaited start in the league.

The Gunners will need patient and persistent if they want to get passed Mark Hughes resilient Stoke team. Take a look at the perfect XI to get the job done…

AT THE BACK

Petr Cech should return to the starting line-up. David Ospina played excellently yet again in the Champions League, once again vindicating his managers decision to plump with him as the number one for the tournament. But the experienced Cech continues to do nothing wrong in the league.

Kieran Gibbs should continue at left back after a fine performance in Basel saw the Englishman create three goals for his side.

Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi should reignite their partnership and Carl Jenkinson should come in for Gabriel. Arsenal will have plenty of possession and the 24-year-old could use this game to build confidence. He also poses more of an attacking threat than the Brazilian.

IN THE MIDDLE

Despite Aaron Ramsey showing signs of improvement, Granit Xhaka and Francis Coquelin played well against West Ham last week. The two should return to the centre of the park tomorrow.

Ahead of them is Mesut Ozil. The German grabbed another assist in Switzerland following his goal against the Hammers last Saturday. That’s now eight goals and six assists for the campaign so far.

UP TOP

Alex Iwobi and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain seem to pushing each other for a starting role. It’s healthy competition which has seen the two improve dramatically. The Ox just gets the nod on the left after a pleasing second half performance at West Ham.

Leading the line will be Alexis Sanchez. The 27-year-old has already made it to double figures in the Premier League (11) and expect the Chilean to have improved on that by Saturday evening. Theo Walcott should come back in and operate on the right.