Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain may not be fit enough to face Man United on Sunday, but he was there in the starting XI when Arsenal had their hoodoo-breaking win in the FA Cup quarter-final two months ago. The youngster only managed 50 minutes before sustaining a hamstring injury and being replaced by Aaron Ramsey.
Although the Ox had to watch from the sidelines while Welbeck scored the winner, he believes that the FA Cup victory will give the Gunners confidence ahead of Sunday’s third trip to Manchester this season. He also started in our Premier League victory at Man City in January. “You can definitely take confidence from any win at Old Trafford,” Oxlade-Chamberlain told Arsenal Player. “It’s a hard place to go and win, especially against a good Manchester United side.
“It will be a tough game but we can take positives from our last trip there in the FA Cup and the win that we managed to come away with.
“That was in a high-pressured environment, as we had to win that to get through to the next round of the cup. To do it at Old Trafford is a big achievement.
“We go into every game trying to win and it hadn’t gone that way for us in the past, but in the two Manchester fixtures this season we’ve done well and come away with two wins.
“It’s other people that will analyse it and say that we’ve stepped over a hurdle. We just go into it and focus, as we do with every game, on coming away with the win.”
After winning nine games in a row before the draw against Chelsea and the ball-busting defeat to Swansea, Arsenal must be gunning to bounce back in style this weekend to guarantee our place in the Top Three. Whoever Wenger picks must just go out and play their best.
Onwards and Upwards!
So with Welbeck and Ox both out who do we want to play?
I would bet my house on the line up being:
Ospina
Bellerin – Mert – Kos – Monreal
Coq – Cazorla
Welbeck – Ozil – Alexis
Giroud
Where do you go to put that kind of bet down? would defintely whack a fiver on that
To Ospina
Bellerin Mert Kos Monreal
Coq Cazorla
Welbeck Ozil Sanchez
Theo
Theo instead of OG as I suspect we will approach game like we dud Man City and pace is paramount
Have been worried about this fixture on Sunday but am bang up for it now – What a chance to put another one over them! Come on you Gunners let’s secure top 3 & automatic Champions League qualification as early as possible & make those Manc’s play the qualifier!!!
Like to see Wilshere
and Theo start because
its a big test. Coming off
the bench late when the game
has opened up is not so hard.
Both Giroud and Welbeck scored against United This season, so we need to play both.
But Welbeck’s will be the most memorable. We knocked out United from FA Cup at Old Trafford with a player we got from United who Van Gaal didn’t think was good enough. Classic stuff.
If any of our guys can score a hat trick at Old Trafford, that will really help increase their value in the transfer market this summer.