Arsenal News

Official teams and preview of Arsenal v Sunderland

Arsene Wenger is clearly looking for an Arsenal win tonight over Sunderland, even though a point would be enough to make sure that we do not have to face the two legged Champions League play offs, barring a cricket score from Man United and a defeat at home to West Brom in our last game.

So there is no surprise to see that the Frenchman has selected a strong side tonight, although I am a bit surprised with a couple of his selections. Koscielny keeps his place despite having been suffering with a bit of illness this week, while it seemed a great chance to give Gabriel another taste of Premier League action.

The other one I did not expect was for the boss to drop Francis Coquelin. He is on the bench and it looks like Ramsey and Cazorla will play in central midfield. Jack Wilshere is given a start though but we will have to wait and see whether he or Mesut Ozil will play on the right flank. Jack I suspect. Kieran Gibbs comes in as well with Monreal on the bench.

Ospina
Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs
Cazorla, Ramsey
Wilshere, Ozil, Alexis
Giroud

subs: Szczesny, Gabriel, Monreal, Coquelin, Flamini, Rosicky, Walcott

It should be a good game tonight and hopefully a big win for the Gunners. A point will do though but a win will give us a chance of second place and keep the momentum going.

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Tags Gibbs Wilshere

153 Comments

  1. Yes, definitely need Ramsey in the back if Coq isn’t playing. And yeah, it’ll probably be Jack on the wings over Ozil since AW likes to wing players if they’re coming back from injuries. Then again our midfield loves to change positions throughout matches anyway.

    1. I said before and repeat it,Wenger cannot change,he will always play his favourite with the same tactic formation given the choice.
      We were lucky that the favourites were injured forcing Wenger to try new things.How the man can be a manager and be so closed minded is scarring.
      We need pace on the wings for Giroud to be effective.Keep dreaming if we think we can win big things with Wenger.

  2. I think we’ll play more of a 4-3-3 with jack cazorla and Ramsey in the middle with ozil on the right. Ramsey will have the license to get forward

    1. I guess i was wrong but this is what i don’t like, if your not gonna play a dm who provides our back 4 with a lot of cover why play mertesacker who NEEDS cover? why not play gabriel and koscielny so both of them are able to cover vast amount of ground and cover for the fullbacks who venture forward?

      this game would be perfect for gabriel and koscielny and with their pace and ability to run attackers down

  3. Since we don’t have a DM our wingers and fullbacks HAVE to be alert and turned on at all times. Cause coq always snuffs those attacks when we get beat out wide but we won’t have him covering

  4. I don’t want Ramsey near any wing! Wenger should just grow a pair and bench 1 out of Ozil,Cazorla and Ramsey. we cannot have midfielders doing wingers jobs just to accommodate some people.

    1. Very brave of you to come out and plainly state the problem of using CAMs in almost every position on the pitch and forcing the Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey combination in every game.

      I have been complaining about this for a long time and I have always been viscously attacked for such heresy.

  5. points with/without X player makes Coquelin our most important player. It’s only Sunderland, but not playing a holding player like Coq worries me a bit. The only plan i see in this line-up is camping outside the box, thinking of how we’re playing playmakers (Ramsey + Wilshere) instead of the winger in Walcott and holding defensive midfielder in Coq. Sunderland are not safe yet, so they wont be chilling. I dont think they will win, but we might see a 1-1 if we keep playing with our heads in our asses My bet is 3-1 to Arsenal with goals from Giroud, Sanchez and Ramsey.

  7. 9-0 to the gunners it will be my friends! sit back and enjoy a goal galore 🙂 🙂 🙂

  8. One of the most important factors of our most recent success, in my opinion, was that we finally achieved proper balance. We had pacy/dynamic wingers on the wing, central players playing centrally, and most importantly a proper DM sitting at home in the hole. (I of course wish we’d have a CF that had vertical pace and hold up ability, but….)

    I’m concerned that this lineup is not balanced enough. So here’s hoping that the team can combine and get in-behind early…

  9. Well it’s ultra attacking and probably the right thing to do is get win and rest everyone for fa cup … I would have played the whippet to remind people of his deep mediocrity …but otherwise hoping for 3 or 4 nil here

  12. If we can’t win 1st then I don’t care if we are 2nd, 3rd or 4th. So this match is meaningless

    Not finishing 1st is failure. Adrian Durham is right

    Only care about FA Cup final.
    Only care about Trophys

    1. And I got thumbed down for being able to read wenger like a kid’s storybook….. LiL wonder why other teams know how to make him(wenger) suffer

  14. Even if we sign Messi and Ronaldo our starting lineup will have Wilshere, Cazorla, Ozil, Ramsey, Giroud and Sanchez.

    I don’t have a problem with any of these guys in our starting lineup.

    AW should rotate and rest some of these guys instead of picking his favourites every game.

  15. Why did he bench Coq ? our best player in 2015, simple reason why we wont win EPL next season, cuz no matter what he will play players cuz he favours them more than rest of group, when Walcot was back he scored 2 goals, and still he was on bench, now Coq, FFS why dont you bench Alexis, poor guy played every game this season !!!!!

  16. “6 Nil to the Arsenal”
    Only 3 more games to see 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 times a million!

  17. Wenger won’t buy another DM as long as we have Arteta, Flamini, Diaby and especially his favorite boy Wilshere are at the club. Also we do have Bielik and Hayden coming up.

    But i personally would love to see Kondogbia or even Wanyama in a Arsenal Shirt 🙁

  19. this is what i don’t like, if your not gonna play a dm who provides our back 4 with a lot of cover why play mertesacker who NEEDS cover? why not play gabriel and koscielny so both of them are able to cover vast amount of ground and cover for the fullbacks who venture forward?

    this game would be perfect for gabriel and koscielny and with their pace and ability to run attackers down

    1. I’m with you but you’d thibk w no coq and our fullbacks providing the width you’d play Gabriel who is quick, can run down players, cover ground etc

      1. Wenger will use Gabz next season, he’s easing him in gently i think, mert boy’s age isn’t on his side, so he will be rotated with Chambers…That’s my master plan anyway.

  23. 2-3 times already the long ball down the Middle has splits open. That’s the ball Coquelin blocks.

  25. 20 minutes played, Giroud and Wilshere both missed 2 chances. Well Giroud missed to 2 great crosses by Bellerin.

  26. Sometimes Giroud sh!ts so much that even Eric Cartman is like “woo bruhh!!!”

  31. One thing I notice Ozil rarely wins the ball from a opposition player in challenging one to one. He always gets the ball as passed from other player. He does not show strength. And Wilshere is not playing well either.

    1. I have never seen Ozil go in for a tackle since he moved to Arsenal, he just runs along side the opponent with not intention to tackle..

      1. i bet u brim with happiness right now considering you finally got your chance to slate ozil. againts hull his tackle led to freekick of sanchez. hmmmmm……

  32. This season I finally realized why Gibbs could never be and will ever be a regular England player.

  33. Wilshere at RW, Arsene is a joke. Why can’t he play players in their most effective position

  36. Giroud needs to be more greedy. Needs to stop trying to help make chances and get in to positions to take them. At the moment we have so many chance creators but no one to make chances for.

  39. Giroud isn’t a world class striker and he will never be regarding to his age and ability. stop telling me about how many goals he has scored, he is scoring goals because of the team set up. A world class ST scores when it is needed most but OG can’t do it.

    1. You know there are maybe 3, 4 players in the world who do what you just asked. 2 play for Barcelona, one is old and finishing at PSG and you could put Aguero in there., but he is always hurt. You muppets cry world class striker. WHO?!? Costa’s weakness even showed at the end in Chelsea, Benzema, Higuain all have their faults. You were all crying for Falcao and Cavani last summer, that turned out great. Thankfully none of you run this club or we would be total rubbish.

  40. I’d look to play Giroud and Walcott up front together. Giroud seems a bit isolated at the moment. He’s the only man we have in the box.

  41. This game has been so simple for us that I fear for another Swansea scenario. We gotta score!

  44. The same rubbish as we played against Chelski, Swansea and United… We are so predictable always trying the same thing time and time again, it’s not working going through the middle but we are still forcing it.. Sunderland have worked it out and it’s become so easy for them..

    Try going on the outside.. smh

  46. Horrible display. Only positive thing is our defence, especially our CB’s. Bellerin also made 2 great crosses in the beginning, though GIroud was nowhere to be found.

    Just park the bus and take the point, Swansea display is in the air.

  47. No pace & no movement upfront to unsettle Sunderland defence. Team full of midfielders with a hold up specialist at the top….friggin dire to watch!

    Sort it out Wenger!!!

  50. Next season we should find someone or train to bomb the bus. Arsenal just don’t know how to break a defensive team.

    1. yeah I am not sure why Wenger changed his tactics over the years from fast attacking, counter attack football to slow build up play.

          1. Your ST need to run with or without the ball sometimes past defenders there is where the whole team push play with speed and intensity.

  52. Really not looking sharp. Poor first touches are robbing us of shooting opportunities. Not enough players are moving forward into the box to make options. A lot of passes seem to be a bit behind their target which is slowing us down even more. In short we’re just not sharp enough. Walcott please!

  53. And SANCHEZ has been so predictable for the second half of the season, he seems to have forgotten how to take on fullback, instead he keeps coming in every time, he is so predictable, fcking frustrating. When was the last time Sanchez took on a fullback and crosses the ball? He just seems to keep cutting in and is looking like an average player..

    smh

    1. and who’s fault is that? wenger for playing him as a LW, he’s not reus or draxler. Sanchez is a ST, you can’t play him on the wings that’s not what he does. Wenger bought a ST and plays him as a LW, HE plays wilshere and ramsay who are not RW there while walcott sits on the bench.

      1. Din! He played as a winger for udinese and mainly for barca. Its only chile he plays as a striker

        1. @joeboy,

          and for Chile it was in a 4-4-2 formation which we haven’t played since..

          So all his great displays have come from the wing.

      2. No one is stopping him from swapping flanks time and time again.. I thought players exchange side through each game, why is Sanchez so bent on staying on the LW?? Our players are given freedom to swap and float into different positions, but Sanchez has refused because he just wants to keep going for glory, to me he is not a team player, he needs to work on it..

  55. Giroud was so lame for don’t know how many games. He look so lethargic, is he been lay all night long.

  56. Bellerin is on his own. No one anywhere near him, zero support – and he still looks our best player and has created our best chances. Either get Ramsey/Wilshere to stay out wide or get them on the bench.

  57. Awful first half, giroud needs to get into the box more and stay there! Instead of trying to creat chance for everyone else! Ozil just….well does nothing. Gibbs looks scared to cross the ball into the box (probably due to no fcuker being in ther)

  58. I hope villa aren’t watching, i thought this game and the cup was a no brainer.
    Wilshire needs to start using his right foot, that ball is still in orbit!!!!!

    Cmon Arsenal!!

  59. A lot of empty seats at the Emirates tonight too. A bit hypocritical for me to complain considering I’m not there, but if there’s not enough fans to fill the stadium, drop the ticket price!

    1. I thought arsenal home ground are for more rich people or more well earn people.

  61. Sanchez has got to become a team player, sorry but to me he is so disjointed from the team, his passing is absolutely terrible, his link up too, and all he does is trying to cut inside and go Hollywood with those shot..

    Hope in preseason he is integrated properly to become a team player. He plays as an individual.

  63. For all his brilliance, Arsene is a very Weird man. He knows what he needs to do but he will rather lose this game than start Theo. This is precisely why he cannot win the league. You just cannot trust him to go the distance as far as decision making is concerned. He would rather start a defender on the right wing than give Theo a deserved starting spot. Strange.

  64. It looks Wenger knew that Sunderland will sit deep gence benching Coquelin. May be we can do with more width on the right side and Sanchez shld learn to drift left and cross. Giroud.. & Ozil…no comment!

  65. It takes a while for the
    new players and combo’s
    to gel I am hoping
    a really good second half
    and 2-3 Arsenal goals

  66. Swansea dejavu. Soak up the pressure so we tire and then wait for that one chance 2nd half.

  70. Why why, we are still forcing thur the center, come on put some gel, it will be more smooth.

  77. Mertesacker has go! Plays to high and is far too slow, seen it on far too many occasions now

  81. Walcott please show the fans why you are better than wilshere or Ramsey on the wing.

  84. Di Maria Manu’s most expensive signing ever and LVG keepa him fu*king benched most of thr time. That is some real balls there. Would Wenger ever grow a pair to bench or even substitute Ozil or Sanchez?? No he will never. That is the difference between a winning mentality and a 4th place loser.

  88. Some time I just don’t know why sanchez like to give away ball than chase back, why don’t just keep the ball.

    1. Because the fans like “hold up play”. Do you remember when Danny Welbeck scored hatrick in the CL by then he knew nothing about hold up play but the time he realized that there are bunches of fans how likes the game he changed and tried the “HUP” as well unfortunately OG is the founder and the master of it and Danny found himself played on the wings.

  90. Just not happening. The ball deflects in the box and it’s always towards the feet of a Sunderland player, never an Arsenal one.

  91. So much domination and no goal yet !! Teams like Chelsea or Manc would have surely squeezed a goal by now. That is what makes me wonder if we will ever be a PL champ under that Cnut Wenger.

  92. It’s seems we don’t try to win games anymore. We need to find an answer when teams play like this, it just ruins the whole game.

  94. Giroud is too one dimensional and too slow to be our main striker. He would not even be on the bench of many of the top 15 clubs in Europe.
    The purple patch is over. We desperately need an upgrade

  99. world class strikers make the mind up for the midfielders with their runs. Giroud doesn’t.
    Hopefully monsieur wenger will not spend the summer buying another attacking midfielder and unknown teenager.

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