Will Arsenal risk using a complete reserve team against Ostersunds?

In the first leg of this Europa League tie, Arsene Wenger picked a very strong Arsenal side to cope with the rigours of below zero temperatures and a plastic pitch, and they left Sweden as comfortable 3-0 winners. But tomorrow, Wenger has to consider making changes to the starting line-up with the League Cup Final against Man City coming up on Sunday, butwould he risk playing with a completely second string X!?

According to the ex-Gunner Charlie Nicholas, the Boss can afford to play his usual League Cup side with lots of Academy players coming in. “He won’t want to play anyone who is going to play in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday but he might be forced to have a couple of bigger hitters on the bench.” Nicholas said.

“I like the look of the young lad Eddie Nketiah in the Carabao Cup but he hasn’t had a sniff in the Premier League because the first team go through hardships. It’s like the young lads get punished for the senior players’ failures.

“I’d expect to see Danny Welbeck through the middle, Ainsley Maitland-Niles in his proper position and then Alex Iwobi maybe the only one who will threaten to start on Sunday. The kids will try to put on a show and they should have enough to win comfortably.”

To be fair, I don’t think any of Wenger’s possible teams should be capable of losing by three goals against the Swedish minnows, but as the Europa League is now our best chance of getting back into the Champions League should we still be using some of our first team?

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23 Comments

  1. Yes I think we’ll see a couple or more changes to the first team line up. Niles might get another chance, Wenger really likes the kid. Some of our younger CB’s might get the nod. Nketiah might get a shout, Lacazette no point in playing from the start unless it was a closer tie. I’d expect Ozil to play, he loves playing at the Emirates. Wilshere and Ramsey prob need the game-time or some minutes before the bigger games to come. If it’s not Niles well then Elneny because even Wenger must be adding up the cause and effect with allot of our goals against, I would say that we’d have at least a quarter less shots on our goal this season but for one lackadaisical individual. And what happened with Kolasinac, he was a real competitor from the first minute, got amongst the goals too, before you know it he’s out of team and when he comes back his confidence is gone, and his bull headed dueling and jostling.

    1. If he plays Ozil against them he should be sacked as should you as a fan. Why would we risk our best player with a cup final 3 days later. Don’t be an idiot

      1. Ok, just thought since we didn’t play on the weekend (remember last time we had a week off?) and with our forwards needing more time together for gelling it might be a good opportunity to gain a bit of confidence, along with a smudge more of familiarity to one another. But what do I know.

    2. its worrying to think of how poor our forwards have been outshone by defenders in the europa league= in terms of goal scoring.look at this
      Giroud=3
      bellerin=1
      deuchy=1
      elneny=1
      holding=1
      kolasinac=1
      monreal=1

  2. Wenger should defo play the reserve squad. We are not likely to throw a 3 gmale lead away plus it will build extra confidence and allow showcasing frim the younger members of the squad.

    Ospina
    (Not hector) cambers holding kolasinac
    Ainsley elnanany
    Nelson wilshire/rambo (45 each) welbeck
    Edie

      1. Always looking for a negative spin. Even if we did loose 2 0 we will still qualify so your negativity is inconsequential.

  3. Tough one.
    Note that Ramsey is doubtful as he has an injury. I hope he plays because he plays well in Cup finals

    Wenger will most likely play a strong side against City as it may be our only real chance of a trophy (hopefully not).
    Our last league cup final was a disaster. We lost to a team that was relegated the same season. So he will want to make amends

    Aubameyang is a certainty against City as he is cup tied in Europa.

    In Europa
    Cech
    LB we have Kolsanic. So we are good there
    CB we can use Per, Holding, or Chambers
    Id play Xhaka, Niles
    Attack Welbeck, Iwobi, Nketiah, Nelson

    For the Final
    Ospina, Koscielny, Mustafi, Bellerin, Monreal, Eleny, Ramsey/Xhaka, Wilshere, Ozil, Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang

    I think we should play Ospina in the final because of the possibility of penalties. We know Cech doesn’t like them

    I think we should be able to maintain a 3 goal lead even with reserves (i hope) in Europa

    1. Trouble is Barry both Ramsey and Lacazette are injured.
      Eddie can play up top-It’s about time we gave him a chance for a full 90 minutes.
      Let’s play another youth player I midfield.We will not need anyone who is starting on Sunday as the job was done in the first leg .

  4. Jesus why are people mentioning Lacazette?? Where have you been?? He’s had an op on his knee… out for up to 6 weeks! Der!!!!

    1. lol. some people are living in caves, wont be suprised if some gunner puts Coquelin in starting lineup 😛

  5. We had trouble enough with Ostersunds and it is not like they had no shots on goal. It would be a major mistake for us to gamble our only CL hope on an entire team of reserves IMO. Prioritize EL not PL.

  6. cech
    niles holding chambers kolasinac
    elneny wilshere
    mkhitaryan
    iwobi welbeck nelson
    for ostersunds

    ospina
    bellerin mustafi kos monreal
    niles
    xhaka ramsey
    ozil auba iwobi

    For citeh

  7. ———————– Cech
    AMN – Mavropanos – Chambers – Holding – Kolasinac
    —————- Elneny – Wilshere
    ———— Iwobi ———– Welbeck
    ——————– Nketiah

    ————- Ospina
    Bellerin – Kosc – Mustafi – Monreal
    ———- Xhaka – Ramsey/Wilshere
    Mkhi ————- Özil ———– Iwobi
    ————— Aubameyang

  8. …………Ospina
    AMN..Cham…Hold..Kolas
    ……………Elneny
    ……Wilshere…Willock
    Mhki……………….Welbeck
    ………….Nketiah

  9. To be honest, I’d rather Mkhit Ozil Auba play thu and two boys play the cup also. They aren’t the type of players that over do things, esp with a three nil lead. The last time we had a week off and rested players for the game to come next, we looked like we never played together once. I’d also like Ramsey to get some minutes rather than city being his first game back, if possible. We can take the big players off because it should be dusted before the second half if it isn’t already over as a contest. We could try gain confidence too, like I said above. Xhaka I’d play because the spine is new enough. And Auba’s game is similar to Lacazette’s, we were poor the last game and on top of that we haven’t played in two weeks about. Defence I expect most changes if he doesn’t decide to go with second team.

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