Arsenal v Ostersund Preview, Rotated Line-up and Score Prediction

Arsenal are set to take on Ostersund in tonight’s Europa League match-up, and are firmly expected to field a weakened side having taken a comfortable win away from Sweden.

We have a healthy 3-0 advantage to defend in North London tonight, and with one eye on Sunday’s Carabao Cup final, you can firmly expect some inexperienced players to pick up minutes.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan may well find himself amongst a number of younger players for the tie, with him cup-tied from Sunday’s encounter from his time with Manchester United, while the likes of Eddie Nketiah and Danny Welbeck will be vying for a starting berth up front. Both Mkhi and Welbeck have been confirmed as starters as well as shot-stopper David Ospina at the Emirates tonight, but the remainder of the line-up will likely be shuffled.

Aaron Ramsey, Alexandre Lacazette and Mesut Ozil are all confirmed absentees, and I struggle to believe that Jack Wilshere will be risked with the Welsh midfielder a doubt for Sunday’s clash also.

Predicted XI:

Ospina
Chambers  Mertesacker  Kolasinac
Nelson  Willock Elneny  Maitland-Niles
Reine-Adelaide Mkhitaryan
Welbeck

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nketiah given the nod over Welbeck up front, with the England international taking up a wide wole, but I feel that Arsene Wenger will want to see more from Danny in a central role with Lacazette out injured and Aubameyang cup-tied from the Europa League.

This team should have more than enough to secure a victory against the Swedish side, but I wouldn’t expect them to just roll over. I’ll go with a 2-1 victory, with Mkhitaryan getting himself on the scoresheet.

Would this team be able to comfortably put us into the next round? Can we afford to make so many changes after the first leg? What are your predictions for the tie?

Pat J

Tags Arsenal Ostersund

13 Comments

  1. Is Debuchy allowed to play for two teams at the same time…cool

    To be fair, i forgot he was transferred too lol
    We need a RB this summer

    We can play Chambers at RB

    Chambers..Holding…Mertsacker..Kolsanic

  2. We will need Mkhitaryan for the Cup final. Play Iwobi or Nektiah

    Seriously if we can’t hold a 3 goal lead at home against a very low team (ranked LAST in Swedish 1st division) then we don’t deserve to go thru.

  3. What on earth is to be gained by playing Merts when you have two promising young centre backs who have never been given a chance to play together.Chambers and Holding need to be tested at this level otherwise why are they still with Arsenal?

    1. Agreed – that’s a no brainer.
      They both have promise but we will only find out if they are going to make it is with games like this.
      Even Mertesacker surely would know that he is only here now to see out the season so has nothing to prove to anyone.

    2. They are still at Arsenal because Wenger bought them both and does not want to admit he made another mistake. Not costly with Holding but he paid c. £16m for Chambers and a Soton. club emplyee told me Soton. were gobsmacked that he would pay that for an unremarkable reserve full back.

  4. The mistake Arsene Wenger would be making is to bring in too many youngsters for the second leg encounter. If one takes a look at the first leg encounter one would see that Ostersund team consists of speedy players who were only unlucky not to score at home in the first leg. If Wenger does nhis selection based on the fact that he is fa ing green horns, he does so at his own risk. We wish Arsenal luck.

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