Pick your Arsenal midfield to face Liverpool

With just a day to go before the Arsenal get the Premier League campaign underway, I assume that Arsene Wenger already knows what starting line up he will pick to take on Liverpool at the Emirates. With the injury and fitness problems the boss has to cope with, both ends of the pitch are lacking in options but as usual our midfield is packed with options and is our strongest area of the pitch.

Only the Germany international play maker Mesut Ozil is unavailable and he should be back for the second EPL match against Leicester, but who will take his place tomorrow and which Arsenal stars will complete the central three, assuming that Wenger is not going to pull a surprise tactical formation on us and Jurgen Klopp?

For me the obvious choice to fill in at number 10 is the little Spanish magician Santi Cazorla, just as he did with great effect last weekend. Cazorla did play most of his football last year in a deeper role but with Ozil out I think we need his creativity further forward. Other options are Jack Wilshere, aklthough he may not be fully match fit yet, Alex Iwobi, Aaron Ramsey or even Alexis Sanchez but I do not think we want to swap too many players from their usual roles.

That leaves the box-to-box role and the defensive midfielder, unless our manager elects to play a sort of double pivot to protect the weakened defence. I don’t think he will though, but to protect that defence I reckon Coquelin will get the nod for his battling qualities, although it could be Granit Xhaka.

The new man could also play the box-to-box role, as could Aaron Ramsey or Mohamed Elneny. It all depends on Wenger, of course, and if he feels that Xhaka is ready for his Premier League debut in these circumstances. I think the midfield trio will be Coquelin, Ramsey and Cazorla. What do you guys think?

Bob.