If Arsene Wenger had every single player available to him, then it would probably not be the England international star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain starting alongside Francis Coquelin in the centre of our midfield later today. For me the first choice would be Santi Cazorla and then Granit Xhaka, but I do feel that having to play the Ox could work for Wenger and the Gunners at Stamford Bridge.
For one thing he has plenty of energy and pace and both of those attributes will be in great demand against an in form Chelsea who, with the likes of Kante, Willian and Hazard, have plenty of energy and work rate of their own. Even though he will not be the deepest lying midfielder for Arsenal, the Ox will need to help out defensively but with Coquelin in front of the back four he will also hope to get forward and help the Gunners attack and that is his main strength.
The Ox is in good form and his confidence will be high after his MOTM display in the FA cup last weekend and he really does offer something different going forward. He should also feel good about facing Chelsea as it was his goal that beat them at Wembley in the Community Shield to end Wenger’s run of games against Mourinho without a win.
Arsenal will need more than a good game from the Ox though, and perhaps the anger that the boss admitted to Arsenal.com that everyone felt after everything went against us against Watford in midweek will be the spark the team needs to produce their best football.
The Frenchman said, “We try to prepare them as well as we can and I think we made a big effort to prepare well for Tuesday night, but subconsciously it wasn’t there. I must also say that we were punished by the fact that we were 2-0 down after 13 minutes. Everything went against us on the night. In the preparation on the night, I didn’t detect any lack of concentration from the players.
“Of course [they were angry and upset], you are not at that level if you don’t care about winning or losing. These guys are highly concerned and highly disappointed when they don’t win. At our level it is really from winning, from the desire to win… and when you don’t we are of course frustrated and angry.”
Can that anger and the Ox be two big weapons for Arsenal in this must-win game?
Bob.
I fear for a shattered Arsenal today. Chelsea have got revenge on their mind.
Difficult to see Arsenal winning this one but sometimes when Arsenal are pushed to the wall, then they ride up to the occasion.
Early kick off ain’t our friend and been long we won at Stamford Bridge.
Anyway, can’t wait for the game to be over no matter the outcome
I share your feelings mate,odds are we will suffer today it doesn’t look good!
I keep thinking of wenger’s 1000th match when we were smashed,I find it hard to be positive about today’s game because I know arsenal to well in these early kick offs they are horrendous
f*** this negativity
come on !!
at least wait till were being smashed before you drop flowers on the floor in memory
coyg – we can do this!!
Negativity is good! When we think we will win easily we struggle. When we think we have no chance we win!!!
we should never think we have no chance
title contenders and the elite never think like that
that tells u we are neither
sad stuff
Stick to ?? muff.
??
lol
fair enough . back to the fuzz we go
coyg
I think we can win if we play Ox, Coquelin and Ozil in central midfield AND Walcott, Lucas or Welbeck on the wings with Alexis up front.
Something like this:
Cech, Bellerin, Koscielny, Mustafi, Gibbs, Coquelin, Oxlade, Walcott, Ozil, Lucas or Danny, Alexis
SuperSub: Giroud
Okay, I will try and be positive with this comment:
Well,at least our players will be even more fired up and angry for our next opponents, after today’s heavy defeat. ??
You just know that things are desperate when fans are relying on the Ox to win games.?
The lad looks tired to me,
probably from spooning and getting spooned by his boyfriend,all night?
What if our players get so angry they get red cards??
We will get a red card or two no matter what.
It’s all apart of the script mate,I’ve seen this groundhog movie more than enough times ?
We all know how the movie ends,the red card for arsenal would involve Diego Costa somehow
Yep and Cesc Fabregas faking an injury for our second Red card.
I’m betting on Gabriel and Coq to see Red.
Our biggest problem is our midfield not being able to defend and withstand pressure. This is an AWQ problem, ´which hasn’t been solved for years.
With Chelsea now playing a loaded midfield and only 3 at the back, we could be in serious trouble today, but we actually also have a chance, if we load our midfield with people, who can also defend, and then have real speed up front to hit them on the attack. Otherwise we’ll get hammered.
Our biggest problem is that Wenger is still our manager so nothing will change until he leaves or retires,he’s the only manager who’s squad is made up of players that are 100% his own which he didn’t inherit but he still can’t motivate them
Nice assumptions mate and since we haven’t the players available to pack the midfield with those who can defend, I’m going with the getting hammered part ?
Think we play better against harder opponents. Complacency has been our enemy for a long time-
But we are good enough!
We have abundance of scorers, great defence and still good midfield.
I just hope we play with creativity and enjoy it. That’s when we play the best