I would assume that, if the answer to the title is the France international star Olivier Giroud, then Arsenal fans will still get to see our flying England forward Theo Walcott as well, probably right from the kick off, but he would be playing in one of the wide forward positions rather than the centre forward role he took up against Chelsea at Wembley last weekend.
His performance in the Charity Shield was not his best though and even though he has played well through the middle and looked dangerous recently, his off day against Chelsea will not have helped his chances of starting there against West Ham tomorrow.
On the other hand, Giroud looked more of a handful when he came on so his chances of starting will have increased. Plus the big man has a good record against the Hammers, with five goals in his five games against them. I do not think, however, that his record against tomorrow´s opponents or the two players´ performances last week will be the main factor in the manager´s decision.
I expect Wenger to cut his cloth accordingly and pick the front line that he thinks will do best. For me against West Ham that would be Giroud in the middle, where his strength and stature can occupy their big centre backs while the pace of Theo and probably the Ox can get in behind and utilise the space, the creative talents of Ozil and Cazorla and the link up play of Giroud.
Is that how you would line Arsenal up?
They gon get it hot
Should start with the Ox on the left, Walcott right and Giroud centre…but I imagine Cazorla is also a strong candidate on the left with Ramsay playing in the centre (..or vice versa).
I believe wenger will most likely start with ramsey in one of the 11 positions, GK?? May be, but I can’t see him on the bench. Though the only certain positions are:
CECH___
__?_ boss_Per ___?_
Le coq_ Santi
__?__ Ozil_ __?__
__?__
So Leicester city are Top of the League …. They must be title contenders. L()L
All I care about is goals and a clean sheet. And beautiful football.
C’mon swans…….ruin their opening party……. Crush em to powder …….M Loving this *dancing*
In other news: swansea lost 2 points, if you know what I mean. Lolz
Its a sweet thing… For a contender to drop points… And that happened at their home… Not really bothered bout the swans!
Yep I know you don’t, and same here. It was all about that talkative.
Giroud upfront with Walcott on the right wing, he could swap wings with Ox during the match. I expect at least, a goal each from Giroud and Walcott, and an assist both from Özil and Santi. COYG!
Giroud to start cuz he’s the only real striker we have! Theo is best on rw and ox on lw. Giroud would def score.we are all waiting for benzema to arrive. Number 9 awaits you karim
Oh not expecting much then lol!
Gomis>Giroud. What a beast.
Gomis is not better than giroud. No doubt
Every player who can torment Terry is one. Like or not. He owned them rrlly bad and Swansea was unlucky not to win.
Not a fan of Giroud, but Gomis is nowhere near Giroud’s level LOL. Ridiculous statement.
Its hard to admit i know, but talentwise he is simple better. Better ball controll better body balance, better dribblings, he also knows how to run behind enemy lines beside him being so big and tall. I want to wake up one day and see Giroud do the same thing like i saw Gomis today.
Simple observation no hate.
This is true.
But bias will blind some people’s view. Just because Giroud plays at Arsenal doesn’t mean he is a better player than Gomis.
Sometimes what you see is what you see. Gomis has more natural footballing ability like ksgunner has pointed out.
For those who will misread, this does not suddenly mean I want Gomis at Arsenal now or as the main CF here. I don’t think Giroud should be the main CF here. I also remember thinking we shouldn’t have signed him after I saw his highlights. And I was not wrong to think that because watching him play was actually worse.
@ks-gunner
Damn dude. You must really hate Olivier. Because Gomis is a lump…
You cant pay a player 140k and expect him to see the bench. Theo i think will start and Giroud will sub him later on. Or the other way around.
Theo should be on 90k a week Max…
not that he deserves it, but him being brit makes him earn that extra cash
“Him being Brit makes him earn extra”?
I suppose the fact that he is one of our longest serving players has nothing to do with it.
Say what you want about Theo but which other player in our squad has scored as many hat tricks for the club? Giroud is still waiting on his first.
I am not into willing to debate about him this time. Put one thing you must understand. He is not in the same lvl as the other top earning players in the team, and the brits in generally are very overrated and very overpayed. But in the end of day, believe whatever you want to believe.
KS you making alot of sense today bro.
Happy to see Chelsea draw. Great stuff. Hope they continue to slip up. Cech is probably having a laugh right now.
Front Three against Westham should be OX Giroud Walcott. Ox and Walcott will be interchanging. Then again, Wenger loves to play Ozil, Santi and Ramsey together so I won’t be surprise if Ramsey starts from the Wing while Walcott will strike and Giroud will sub Him later. Whoever start, We need to win the game. Chelsea dropped two points today. Still early days but @ least points dropped.
No place for Ramsey as far as I can see unless the idiot manager puts him on rw which is absurd
So
Walcott giroud ox
Santi ozil
Coq
Monreal kos gab bellerin
Czech
Should be hood for 2 or 3 goals
That will be the most likely formation.
Would look a lot scarier if you insert Benzema upfront and Sanchez into one of the wings when he is fit.
But for now, that is more wishful than a reality.
FT-Chelsea drew 2:2 with swansea.
Hahahahahahaha. Coitoirs red carded. No cech for them.
I’m soooo livid.
£10 accumulator on 6 teams. I thought putting Chelsea to draw was a mistake. But no, leicester beating Sunderland let me down. Needed a draw.
£11,152.60 I would’ve got in return. :'(
Man it was obvious Leicester would beat Sunderland! The Chelsea draw was unexpected. Anyways I’m sorry for you. You could have gone on a luxurious vacation with that cash. Too bad
I know…. I don’t know what possessed me to put the game down as a draw. uhhhhh
Spuds ruined a perfect Saturday with an own goal
But still not a bad Saturday with Chelsea drawing and a red card lol
I think he should still play Walcott.
But doesn’t matter, the CF we need has to be bought and then move Walcott to the wings and occasionally play him upfront.
If Sanchez is available tomorrow then Sanchez, Walcott and Oxlade should be the front 3 with Walcott as the striker.
But most likely it will be some combination of Walcott, Giroud and Oxlade.
IF the rumours are true “THEN” we should be having Benzema as the ST with Theo/Oxlade and Sanchez as wingers in addition to Ozil being the creative mastermind. Now that is a mouthwatering proposition. I can then actually have some legitimate belief.
Well I said this last season, but I think Gary Monk could be a good future Arsenal manager. He’s very inexperienced at the moment, but in a few years time I think he’ll be a good shout for when Wenger steps aside.
Swansea play great football most of the time. They’re a great passing, attacking side, sometimes it’s like watching Arsenal play. But also he can set up a defensive team when needed as he proved today and at the Emirates last season, he’s a former centre back himself. Setting records at Swansea for most points, highest finish etc too. I’m a big fan of his.
I dont know what his secret is. Not that they do play like us, but they tend also to outplay us.
Giroud always score against West Ham. But football is no mathematics. Leave the headache to Wenger. That’s what he is paid for. All I want is >3 goals and a clean sheet. Since when had we been on top from the first week. Let’s frighten them all, Benzema or no Benzema. The first time in years am not scared of a season. I hope am okay. COYG.
I’m I d only one who thinks Matic gets away with a lot of fouls and shirt pulling. Hazard has made it an honby to swim on d pitch. He’s possibly their first flair player……no wonder dey see em in the eyes of Ronaldo nd Messi
I like wenger try this
____walcott__Giroud____
Ozil__cazorla__coq__ramsey
Mon__kos___cham___bellerin
_________cech______
The way Ox has played before injury last season and since his recent return demands that he is on the pitch. He is giving LBs absolute fits. He must play.
Pundits will say “But they had the best defense and the best GK last season”.
Chelsh** they ain’t s*** today hope the continue loosing point like that f*** Mourinho his a piece of sh** & he’ll continue to s**** on his pant come next game.
My oh my…sh*t everywhere. Lots of toilet paper needed.
I’d prefer
Walcott and Oxlade on wings
Giroud up front-
Ozil in CAM
Coquelin and Cazorla or Ramsey (the other on bench)
Wenger likes to play both Cazorla and Ramsey so we probably will see Ozil on left 🙁 or maybe even Ramsey on right wing
Chelsea came out to play football instead of bus parking. Looks like they can’t win without the bus.
That montero left footed scoop is deadly, they scored home and away against us with that exact move, and used it today to equalize.
Ivanovic, arguably the best right back in the league got roasted by montero, chambers deserves an apology, there were some harsh and unfair comments here when he played swansea and lost his place in the side.
Chels*** they ain’t s**today hope they keep loosing point like that so fo***ng Mourinho will continue to s**t on his pant come next game.
Why do folks keep omitting the fact that although Walcott didn’t score against Chelsea he gave the assist for OX’s goal? If a striker doesn’t score but gives an assist, that’s good enough right? I feel Walcott needs to score in all the 30+ games this season to satisfy some gooners :/
Not me.
I would rather have him as our ST now with all the options we have. He is the most dangerous out of Welbeck, Giroud and himself and the best finisher after Sanchez that we have. But maybe he will score more (like he did in 2012/2013) if he starts out on the right and makes runs in behind or makes his way into the CF/ST positions.
Not just that. Walcott has started the last 3 meaningful games and has had 4 goals, 1 assist, all wins, and 2 trophies. That is a record that is impossible to ignore.
Mourhinho looks like he’s cracking up already. Was he freaking out at Hazard?
Has the Comm Shield and today’s draw…and fact he perhaps hasn’t been given 100m to spend, started to get to him??
They don’t seem to be clicking yet. Could Chelsea bomb this year? Likely or not, I’d laugh my f***ing socks off.
The season is long… it’s too soon to start laughing at your rivals 😉
We need to get our laughs whenever we can get them. Joozhey and Costa were in meltdown. Makes my day.
this Ayew guy,,,,,,,hmmm. how did Swansea get him at all. am shocked
https://mobile.twitter.com/Jeinnylizarazo?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
THIS BENZEMA THING IS SERIOUS!!
Since Wenger started using Walcott at the end of last season Arsenal have won every game.
Seems like a no-brainer to me – Walcott is the man.
Over the past weeks the comments on this site have mostly suggested Giroud be tossed onto the dead wood pile.
Now, today, I am reading so many comments suggesting Giroud start up front.
Seems like some schizophrenia going on here.
I think you misinterpret. He should be tossed to the dead wood pile and rightly so. Which is the feeling for sensible ones here.
People just predict what wenger will do and not exactly what they would do.
Right now, we can just assume he is a backup. When your starter is out injured, your backup steps in.
If I was Wenger I would play Walcott as CF/ST until we signed Benzema or someone else. If we didn’t get anyone else, I will give Walcott his chance in that role for an extended period. Giroud has been given that chance for 3 seasons now and hasn’t done enough.
But knowing Wenger, he will most likely play Giroud.
What will happen to Giroud, Theo and Ox when Benz arrives. I mean the guy will go straight to the first 11, Ox and Theo will duke it out for RW? Then Giroud will sit in the subs. Sounds about right but might create a lot of unhappy subs.
No matter what, i tis a better problem to have then just having Giroud up top
I don’t think Giroud can complain though. He should fill the sub role well as he will NEVER be a starter at any other top club. Its a miracle (basically Wenger) that he has had that spot as his own for 3 years given the calibre of players (Henry, RVP, Adebayor) that had that spot for Arsenal at the top of their game.
As for Oxlade and Walcott, I know this is a little sadistic but one of them will probably be injured out either sporadically throughout the season or for something like 1 or 2 months in the season.
I think I will leave the question of who starts upfront to le Prof, All I want tomorrow is
1. a good game from my darling team,
2. 3 lovely points
3. a nice shiny clean sheet….
I don’t believe this is too much to ask….
Chech
Bellerin Mert Kos Monreal
Coq Ramsey
Ox Ozil Santi
???
Pretty sure Wenger will go for this.
No way will OG and Theo start, we only have the 2 ST (Welbeck injured, others on loan an sanchez only back recently) , 1 has to be on bench as sub.
Maybe Debuchy for Bellerin, but this our strongest team and I think Wenger will go for this.
What is wrong if Walcot start as winger and bang the Goooooaaaaaaals must he start as st to score ?
Anytime any day am routine for Girould as the front man until a better ST arrives possible not at this 1st half of the session