If Arsene Wenger was unsure about whether to rotate among his available Arsenal forwards for the visit of Southampton tonight, I think that the last few minutes of the FA cup win over Burnley will have made his mind up. If Theo Walcott had managed to round the keeper and finish his glorious chance to score then I believe he would have started against his former club.
The England international is lacking a bit of confidence at the moment having not scored since the Man City match in December. He also has a pretty poor record against his boyhood club, with just one goal against them in the 10 years since he signed for Arsenal.
Add to this the fact that Theo played the full 90 minutes on Saturday while Joel Campbell was not used and the fact that the Costa Rican has been in good form, then it does not take a genius to guess which one will start tonight, assuming that Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud are in the line up that is.
The other call for Wenger is at the other end and although Per Mertesacker was at fault for the Chelsea defeat due to his daft red card challenge, the nerves on show at the back against Burnley suggest that evfryone is a bit calmer with our BFG in the back four. Gabriel will replace him sooner or later but I do not think that time has come just yet.
“Gabriel will replace him sooner or later but I do not think that time has come just yet.”
Please no more BFG … Let Gabriel take his place …
I don’t mind seeing Campbell start over Walcott but Mertsacker for Gabriel???? I don’t want the repeat of the scoreline on boxing day. We need Gabriel in this game against Pacey forwards like Long, Mane and even Austin….
Wenger Please…………
Gabriel should start over BFG so we wont be caught with pace at the back. Also Campbell should start over Walcott. Le Coq should make is BPL return and I wouldn’t mind seeing Eleney take some part in the match
NoooooooOOOOOOOOO???????!!!
Please governor…. Don’t say it’s trueeeeee ? ?
Not.. Not .. BFG …. Whyyyyyy.. Whyyyyyyyyy? ??
Oooh, ffs! ?
Fatboy’s starting 11
————————— Cech
Bellerin — Gabriel — Koscielny — Monreal
Campbell — Elneny — Coquelin — Sanchez
————- Walcott ———- Giroud
Show some balls Mr Wenger Sir!
?
No Ozil?
we have enough of that f…ing german snail.
Agree with you Bob.
Hope Kos is fit to play 2nite.
C’mon Gunners!
I find it hard to find the basic reason why fan prefer Gabriel to Per at the moment. Is it actually all about pace?. Well I don’t think so. For those of us who watch replays of our recent games, have you compare the errors caused by our defender(leading to goals) when Per and Kos play to when Gab and Kos play? It will surprise you to notice that Kos makes more mistakes in recent games than Per. Remember Chelsea’s goal and Burnley’s goal in our last two games? They were caused by similar errors. I have said it before the pairing of Kos and Gab does is not good for now due to the fact that they play almost the same way. Per is calmer. As for Theo and Campbell, I think it will be a mistake for Arsene to drop Campbell for Theo.
Others label Kos as the best defender in the epl, and you think that he makes as much mistakes as Merti, or as you say even more? LOL. Get out of here.
Mertesackers red card against Diego was no surprise. He tends to go down every time he faces and opponent in a 1 vs 1 situaten. He often misses the ball and makes fouls refs tend to ignore quit often, but against Chelsea they will never do.
A gian who ducks in corners, and get out muscled by players who are half of his height, dont deserve to play in a supposed top team like arsenal.
I said Kos makes errors in recent games. I am not saying he is a bad defender. Even FIFA best eleven players can have their of periods.
Srry for missreading it. He does, but not more then Merti.
I said Kos makes errors in recent games. I am not saying he is a bad defender. Even FIFA best eleven players have their off periods. What I am saying is pairing Per with either of them is more stable than pairing the two of them. It seems to me that both Gab and Kos are not so comfortable playing on the right hand side of the defense. Some of us argue with emotion instead of facts. I can’t imagine why a fan will prefer Eleny to Ozil in a line up.
Tell me what makes Merti stand out to Gabriels game then? Where do you get that impression that they are not comfortable with each other?
It’s true that Koscielny has been making a few mistakes lately, maybe that has more to do with himself rather than who he is partnered with… Maybe he is playing with a slight injury? … We know that he has a back and hip problem.
And the other thing regarding Gabriel and Koscielny playing in the same/ similar way!… Well, Isn’t that a good thing? Considering that Koscielny is highly rated!
That may be because they have not played together enough times to work put any jinks in the combo, that is why moat of us have been saying he should have been starting games ages ago….its not like Per and Kos built a partnership overnight….its just a no brainer as far as am concerned because aside from the pace,Gab is more aggressive, he has a good recovery rate and with him in the line up we can play the high line which will hive opponents leas time on the ball.
“Add this to the fact that Walcott played the full 90 minutes on Saturday”
? The fact is that Walcott came on to replace Sanchez on the 78th minute! ?
Roll one up for me Bob ..?. Marley style! ?
campbell has without doubt been one of our best players, but knowing wenger like we do that will all go out the window and his “favourites” retain their place that being walcott and ramsey. forget box to box forget pace strictly talking about what ramsey n walcott have contributed over the past 2 months its not been good enough. Coquelin & sanchez straight back in the above straight out, that’s what any top ruthless manager would do.
Wenger we all know which category he comes under now lol
for me i would set the players this way
……………….Cech
Bellerin — Gabriel — Koscielny — Monreal
……….Elneny — Coquelin
……………….ozil
Campbell…………………. Sanchez
…………….Giroud
With ramsy and wolcot iowbi in the second half
ramsey for Coquelin iwobi for campbell and wollcot for giroud
We need a big win tonight come on the Arsenal
ramsey and not playing?
or even iwobi for ozil
BFG didn’t even do the red card right. We needed a 3 game suspension so Wenger would be forced to give Gabriel 3 starts in a row.
To wish that an Arsenal player should be suspended for longer is unbelievable. “Fans” wishing this would soon change their mind if we had a series of injuries to their favoured defenders.
ideally we want all of the squad available with none missing due to injuty, illness, suspension or anything else. To wish otherwise is ridiculous for an Arsenal fan.
I prefer Campbell to Theo, while any of per n Gabriel can b paired with Kosheny. Mert has not commited unforgivable offense the way some ppl make him look. Kosheny has caused many penalties n own goals in d past. Thats football . however, I love d way elneny played in our last game, he deserves first eleven