Arsenal boss vows to go BIG in Brighton but NO Cazorla

Arsene Wenger has declared that he is determined to build on Arsenal’s fantastic away win over the Premier League champions Man City last weekend. And that starts today, with another away game in the fourth round of the FA cup.

That is why the boss has vowed to pick a very strong starting line-up, even though we are facing a team in the bottom half of the Championship in Brighton and Hove Albion. Wenger also referred to the strength of the Arsenal bench at the Etihad stadium though, which had Szczesny, Gibbs, Chambers, Flamini, Rosicky, Ozil and Walcott, and admitted that some of those players would be starting today.

It does not take a genius to work out that Walcott and Ozil will be two of them, especially after he spoke about them in an Arsenal.com report as needing time on the pitch to sharpen up after long spells away with injury.

The Frenchman said, “People reproach you when you have no competition on the bench. When there is one, they question you as well. It is true there is competition for places at the moment, that is a luxury that only a club like of our stature can afford.

“It can make the players better, because the competition inside the club is always very important to keep the players on their toes. These are players who are in a bit of a special position, it is not their quality which is questioned, it is just the fact they have just come back from long term injuries.

“The best XI I have in my head can change every week. We are in a world where competition is vital and competition is just down to performance in the last game.”

I think most Arsenal fans would agree that we need to get Ozil and Walcott back and ready to help Arsenal enjoy a better second half of the season. The only problem is that playing both of them almost certainly means that Wenger will drop the excellent Santi Cazorla to the bench.

Do you agree that this is a risk worth taking or would you prefer Wenger to make absolutely certain of getting through?

Tags Cazorla Ozil Walcott Wenger

23 Comments

  1. Fantastic Results:
    Bigmouthrinho 2-4 Bradford
    Spurs 1-2 the FOXES
    M.City 0-2 Boro
    Soton 2-3 Sanogo team

    😀

    1. FA cup runs to the end of the season
      and is an unwanted distraction for
      Chelsea and Man City.
      The League cup is over early.
      City and Chelsea are playing for the Pemiership
      Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool are playing for the F’all cup 🙂

    2. After yesterday you have to start to wonder whether this really is a good time for players to be using this game as a sharpener. If it was a mid-week game then it would make some sense but there is a week before the next game so not so sure.

  2. Competition for places are getting fierce now with Santi & Coq have had phenomenal run in the last 6 odd games which only gets me worried about Ramsey & Wilshere.. Hope the two come up with something brilliant when they are given chances.. I am sure Ramsey will stand up to it, but I am particularly worried abt Jack tbh.. Lad got to step it, otherwise “smh” he will be shown the exit doors.. #InArseneWeTrust
    And #WelcomeGabriel that got me excited..

    1. fierce compeititon: if wenger is honest with this comment “The best XI I have in my head can change every week.” then that means no favorites and we’re golden. then theoretically wilshere will have to prove himself to start at b2b and hopefully the pairs wilshere/ramsey and ozil/caz wont be on at the same time. to me this will be a big test of wenger’s ruthlessness: does he leave out big players that are underperforming (or coming back from injury) ? or does he try to jam them all in even if it means playing them out of position? [we know how well that works out]

      1. Do you really believe Wilshere will walk straight in the squad once fit? Replacing who? Cazorla? Coquelin? Maybe Ramsey but you lot said that he is also a favourite so it doesn’t linkup.
        One thing that made victory at Etihad possible was the spirit and the attitude. In fact I would say that these two won us the game. Now, one player not missing any of these two is Wilshere. Sure, he’s not so disciplined yet but so was Coquelin. Look at him now, he seems like he was born there.
        Another thing is competition on the team. It is hard to see how Wilshere could improve when Santi, Rosicky or Ozil were in poor form in the beginning of the season. Same with Szceszny while Ospina was injured. Competition is good people, gives options to the coach and makes the people fighting for the glory and not taking it for granted.

  3. a few bad tackles and thats it….. 2 or 3 players shld be given a rest….like sanchez, carzola, coq and kos……

    with walcott, akomp, ozil and flamini

    if our reserves cant perform against brighton then they shldnt be in the team.

  4. Boy the result last night i Fa cup has really opened our door to defend the FA cup. We must not take the opposition lightly and have to be on our toes right from the beginning. I see us winning comfortably if all our players give their 100 %. I am desperate to win the FA cup again.
    Id Ozil and walcott has good game on top of our win, i will be overjoyed.
    But we need to get through this match as a rematch is also problematic
    Sunny

      1. Yeh they lost cause no penalty calls but seriously how can a team like Chelsea with so much class players being 2 nil up at home lose 4 2 imagine if that was Arsenal we would all pull the rope on Wenger Would love to hear if they have a forum like this to hear there comments It’s what makes this competition the best even I would say than the World Cup is second to FA just for the Drama that unfolds England has created a beauty in this Comp I get the photo out every year to see the Copper on the White horse at the first Wembly final CB

        1. Well said Luko Bratzi , if it was Arsenal losing like that then the plastic fans and media would be calling for wengers head. Chelsea lost at home playing there strong team against Bradford. No one talks about it. That f@king big mouth c&nt mouri . Hope Man City can beat them next weekend .

  5. Does Le Coq’s negotiation of extending contract go well ? I heard he refused at the moment because he need guarantee of first team

  6. le coq will leave for free or for a small sum juz like nazri, flamini, glichey, sagna, rvp and gang

  7. Line up today
    Szczesny
    Bellerin chambers kos Gibbs
    Flamin ramsey
    Walcot ozil roscky
    Giroud
    No complacency and this team is strong enough to get us through.
    For once,have loved this January transfer.COYG

    1. that lineup could well be our best XI (except for flam): it def doesnt look like a reserve (ozil,walcott,ramsey,koz,gibbs,chesney)
      i would rest koz and leave mert in.
      also heard bellerin is injured in which case chambers goes RB, monreal comes in for koz.
      [bellerin AND debuchy injured OMG]

  8. My hallucinations continue to become more weird 🙁 🙁 🙁
    First it was that Arsenal beat man city 2-0.
    Then that Wenger was speaking openly about transfers.
    Now I am hallucinating that Wenger is actually busy in the Jan transfer window and bringing in players early 🙁
    But that is not thaat bad 🙁 🙁 I had the strangest hallucination so far 🙁 , that most top teams flopped n were eliminated in the fa cup 🙁 🙁
    I am loosing it pals, I need urgent medical attention.
    My great heartache from arsenal miseries is driving me mad, poor Pythagoras 🙁 🙁 🙁
    #wenger has a hand in this
    #wish Pythagoras quick recovery
    #love Pythagoras

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