Is Ramsey and Xhaka Arsenal midfield too open for Chelsea?

Arsene Wenger still has a few options open to him from the Arsenal squad in the central midfield area, but after the French defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin picked up an injury which has been revealed to be an ankle ligament problem, the boss has a dilemma to consider ahead of the Community Shield clash this weekend.

I expect Granit Xhaka to be in the starting line-up and I would like to see Aaron Ramsey get the nod ahead of Mohamed Elneny alongside him, but against Chelsea I wonder if this central pairing might just be a bit too open and we could play into the hands of Chelsea and their fast and dangerous counter attacking style.

The Wales international has looked pretty sharp in pre-season but he is not the fastest player or the strongest in a tackle and so perhaps the engine, legs and more defensive style of the Egyptian could be more useful against Antonio Conte’s Blues.

If Wenger does go with Ramsey it would put more onus on Xhaka to do the dirty work and as we have seen he can pick up cards as though it is his birthday and the last thing Arsenal need is to lose a player. How do you think Arsenal will set up against Chelsea without Coquelin?

Bob.

25 Comments

  1. I’d put Kolasinac with Xaka in midfield.

    He’s a monster – although un-orthodox think it could work

    1. What was our team in the FA Cup Final? … didnt Ramsey play in the FA Cup Final and score the winning goal ?!

      We have Lacazette and Kolasinac to add to that winning team so no need to change too much

    2. thats a good one, or how about Per Mertesacker in the midfield, that would be really funny to watch.

    1. Me too
      We need a couple more to compete for the title. Wenger seems to relaxed. I hope he is working behind the scenes

  2. Wenger is still watching other clubs signing players right now, while he is doing nothing.He is supposed to act like an experienced Manager not like a kid and he must go if arsenal will not lift Epl coming season.

    1. What makes you say something so disrespectful that he is doing nothing!
      It is not down to Arsenal just to buy a player… the selling club has to a) want to sell b) agree a price and c) ensure they have someone else to replace who they are selling
      Additionally because of FFP and Home-Grown rules it doesnt make sense to buy all your players and then suddenly you could get 2-3 major injuries and have to buy someone else but then cant because you have no monies or might have to sell someone to be able to do so
      So many people saying negative things and that we should just go and buy and yet at the same time why spend so much on someone when we could have got somebody else! Its utter madness…
      We have some great youngsters and we should try them out as this is best way to build a team from within rather than spending silly money every year.
      There is a full month left in the transfer window so lets all please stop this incessant abuse of our manager when the season has not event started!

  3. I like the idea of playing Saed in midfield role. That would be interesting. But I’m not sure he’s even played there before. Xhaka and a Coq don’t make a good pairing. I don’t like Coq to begin with. But he’s ok I suppose. This is where we need a good signing.

    If I were in charge I’d get rid of Welbeck, Coq, Monreal, and the usual suspects. But I would keep Lucas Perez and play him much more. He is so much better than Welbeck and Giroud if he only had a chance to play more.

    1. Why Monreal and Coquelin?
      Monreal is a very good LB and LWB
      Coquelin is good enough as backup at least

  4. “central pairing might just be a bit too open and we could play into the hands of Chelsea”. end of quote.

    Difficult to appreciate this when this pairing helped see us to fa cup success didnt it?

  5. weak midfield.

    compared to
    bakayoko kante
    matic pogba
    wanyama dembele.
    guey3 schneirldin

    alot of physicality which is good in the epl.

    sometimes i wonder what is really wengers plan.
    would it hurt to buy someone like seri,carvalho,krychwioak…
    a plan B strong enforcer.

    1. I don’t understand. Schneiderlin was not good enough for a Team that has not finished in top 4 for the the past 3 seasons or so.. same goes for Dembele,wanyama… Kante is the only Name that I can vouch for.

    1. Me too….i really fear that things might get worse,we finished 5th and all we signed are two players…are we now stronger than the teams which finished above us?!

  6. If we don’t sign ” the top top players” we were promised

    City
    Utd
    Chels
    Spurs
    Liverpool
    Arsenal

    You can thumb me down but it’s so obvious

    1. As much as I feel we need to sign at least one more player, I must say that we should stop being pessimists. We shouldn’t assume our team is not as strong as Manu, chelshit, mancity and Co (when the season begins we ll find out, remember how sign pogba won Manu d league before it started or how pep was going to win all trophies before d season started). Knowing Wenger, he probably waiting for a bargain buy that is dependent on d sale of another player (I hope he brings in lamar or someone else that’s worth the wait).

    2. how is it so obvious… Leicester won two years ago and one of the big teams expected that
      Man Utd spent £80 mn on Pogba and much more on others and finished below us… so no guarantee for any of the teams that they will finish top 3…

    3. Last Man City signed Players for more than 100M and still finished 3rd, Man U did the same and also signed “the top top Player” Pogba for 80+ million and still finished behind us. Eventhough we finished 5th the difference between the 3,4,5 and 6 were not that big a difference a lucky breakthrough here and there could have got us 3rd or a lucky breakthrough for Man U could have got us number 6. More over the EPL winners for the past 2 years are the Teams that didn’t Play anything in Europe. So given that all of us will struggle have our Players fit for all the games.

  7. light weight midfield compare to other top teams.that is one area Arsenal need to strenghten.but we all know Wenger.he will not strengthen that’s why Arsenal is playing second fiddle to other top teams.the manager is not serious

  8. I think Xhaka -Ramsey is our best midfield pairing. Xhaka is always going to play after the fortune we spent on him and he pairs best with Ramsey who is best in the middle with a bit of freedom.

  9. I know we are talking defensive struggles here , but in the long run , wouldn’t Isco be a great signing for us , not only that but buy a world class centre half to pair with Kosc

    1. Too soon to write of Mustafi no? Had a great start in his first year than struggled but has shown he might have what it takes to be a starter for a top team.

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