PREM: Cardiff City v Arsenal preview

Cardiff City v Arsenal preview

Mesut Ozil is set to return for Arsenal after illness as the Gunners travel to Cardiff City in the Premier League.

The 29-year-old midfielder missed last weekend's win over West Ham but has trained all week and is back in contention for a starting spot.

The 3-1 victory against the Hammers was Unai Emery's first in charge of Arsenal, and the Spaniard is hoping his side can continue this on Sunday.

"I am very, very happy firstly with the three points but then also how the team worked to win this match and how we finished the last few minutes," he said afterwards.

"I want to continue that in the next match against Cardiff, a different game, but just to continue our momentum."

Cardiff manager Neil Warnock insists he will not be suffering any sleepless nights just because his goal-shy side's next three opponents are Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City.

"You say three. I'd say 33," Warnock replied when asked about Cardiff's tough run at his pre-match press conference. "You are looking at the teams, but if you'd let it worry you too much you'd never sleep at night.

"We've got to look at this as a challenge to try and create chances against the top teams. We know they will have a lot of possession and it won't be all down to us parking the bus, because these teams have great quality.

"But it could be worse, we could be in the Sky Bet Championship going all over the country. I'm definitely going to enjoy going to these stadiums and, at my age, I want to see my team playing good football."

Elsewhere for Arsenal, Laurent Koscielny (Achilles), Sead Kolasinac (knee), Ainsley Maitland-Niles (leg) and Carl Jenkinson (ankle) are missing, as Lucas Torreira pushes for his first start.

Cardiff have injury problems. Nathaniel Mendez-Laing has been ruled out for three months after damaging knee ligaments, and Junior Hoilett faces a fitness test on a groin injury that has sidelined him for two weeks.

Aron Gunnarsson will not return until after the international break because of a knee injury that has ended his hopes of linking up with Iceland following the Arsenal game.