If you have not seen the highlights from Arsenal’s win away to Nottingham Forest in our first EFL cup game of the season then you can check them out on the Arsenal website or watch the video below to see our summer signing Lucas Perez net his first two goals for the Gunners.
With Olivier Giroud possibly still unable to play because of his toe or some such reason, a lot of Arsenal fans have been calling for Lucas to get his second start of the week when Arsenal play host to our London and Premier League rivals Chelsea on Saturday evening.
I would not mind that particularly but despite Lucas having taken his penalty well and showed good strength, pace, determination and finishing for his second, he still should have done better with a number of other chances at the City Ground.
One player who did very well for the whole game against Forest, however, and in fact scored a better goal than the Spaniard to make it 4-0, was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. So if Wenger wants to continue his recent tactic of playing Alexis Sanchez through the middle then I reckon it could be the Ox who is rewarded with another start for his performances in the cup rather than Lucas.
There is also the in form young Alex Iwobi to consider, of course, so how would you like to see the Arsenal attack line up for this big game against Antonio Conte’s Chelsea?
Bob.
No, not OX. He looses the ball numerous times giving away possession to opposition. Getting the ball back off Chelsea, will be one hell of a job. Better Lucas with Alex and Walcott or Iwobi.. Select players who do not lose possession. Ox comes in last twenty minutes depending on the scoreline.
It’s more the manner in which he loses possession for me… It’s the simple stuff he’s getting wrong. The forest game there was a period in which he killed like four attacks in a row with barely any pressure and simply bad decisions.. Technically and physically he has what it takes to be a monster, but he’s just getting the basics all wrong and Iwobi is doing quite the opposite.
Ox defensive ability is seriously needing improvement not to mention his passing accuracy. I still wonder why Arsene keep him instead of Joel Campbell.
Personally, I think he had long-term in mind.
ummm what…? Maitland-Niles, Akpom, Lucas and JRA all had better games than the Ox.. Walcott and Iwobi had FAR better games against Hull which was much stronger opposition.
I reeeeeeeally am struggling to understand why fans are wanting to see our attack tinkered with when it finally looked to have some balance.
I’m a big believer in that Ox will come good eventually… But right now he’s struggling for form and we have players in his position who are looking very, very good!
Ox should only play in the cups game or against sunderland
You guys must be watching different games to me-
Ox is vastly improved from last season. He’s clearly decided to get serious about his football and been putting in the hard yards in pre-season and training-
Yes he’s still not perfect. But he’s more creative on the ball, and scoring great goals
Be surprised if he doesn’t start. But have lots of great players- so not guaranteed.
Think Arsenal has evolved- no longer do we pick the best 11 players-
Now we must pick the best combination of players. Which is quite different. And nice challenge to have
Ox is vastly improved from last season???
Wenger should start Walcott as a striker and play Lucas and Sanchez either side of Walcott. We should get there full backs busy defending a lot thru the first half and play a high tempo. Quick goals and proper game management. Coq, Xhaka, and Ozil for the midfield. Matic, and Kante will most likely start for Chelsea. So we need that creativity and Discipline in the midfield. Hazard, Costa and Willian are the players to worry about.
Various reason have been mention about Ox both pro and con on weather he should start this next game Vs Chelsea but one which hasn’t been is the fact that his off the ball movement / positioning needs more work. Ox has the physical aspect needed but needs to focus more on the basics and keeping posession.