Arsenal must start with this midfield to beat Watford – Who would you choose?

Troy Deeney famously claimed that Arsenal lacked cojones when Watford beat us 2-1 back in October 2017 and the truth is, at that time, he had a point but those words may well come back to haunt him this evening when we visit Vicarage Road.

This is what Deeney actually said

“I’ve heard Wenger’s already blaming (the decision) as the reason why they lost. I’m not going to be the one to tell Mr Wenger about himself, but there’s a reason why they lost and it wasn’t because of one penalty.

“I’ll have to watch what I say. It’s (having) a bit of cojones, a bit of nuts.”

Let’s be honest, we were saying that ourselves at the time, that was one of the biggest criticisms of Arsene Wenger, however, times have changed and we can make Deeney swallow those words but only if we pick the right players.

Unai Emery simply has to start with Lucas Torreira, Granit Xhaka and Mattéo Guendouzi, though if he goes with Aaron Ramsey instead of Guendouzi that would be just fine.

I will be honest and admit he probably will not play those three at once, he may well save Xhaka for Thursday, in fact, he may even save Torreira as well but that would simply be the wrong call.

But, if we are to get control of the midfield we need skillful tough fighters, and Torreira, Xhaka and Guendouzi fulfil that profile perfectly.

Torreira is a beast, he is a player I trust to win 50-50 balls fair and square and he will not be intimidated at all.

The same applies to Guendouzi, though on occasions he can be impulsive but he is certainly a fighter and never gives up.

Xhaka is another fighter but he also has great distribution, it is one thing winning the ball, it is another to do something creative and Xhaka has that in his game.

These three would match anything Watford throw against them and if we want to control the centre of the park then at least two of these three must start, preferably all three.

9 Comments

  1. Xhaka is possible but unlikely to start because of groin injury. He may be brought into the match

    So I would go with Torreira, Guendouzi and Ramsey

    1. If we have to play with three midfielders, I hope the line-up would be:

      …………………..,Leno
      Niles . Koscielny . Mustafi . Kolasinac
      ………………….Torreira
      ……..Ramsey ………… Guendouzi
      ………………. Lacazette
      Aubameyang ……………..Iwobi

      Ramsey and Guendouzi as mezzalas. Lacazette as a false nine. Aubameyang and Iwobi as wide forwards

  2. Sat 15th April 1989, Hillsborough. 95 Liverpool fans lost their lives. Our hearts go out to our Liverpool family as we share in their pain of the loss of their loved ones.

  3. Deeney will be forever known as the cajones fellow. People will say, remember yer man, he played for that team, what ya ma call it, your man em, the cajones fellow.

  4. Of course, long before the age of snowflake players everywhere, of which we have our fair share, Deeney’s ” cajones” comment would have become our most effective team talk possible. It still might with many of our team but it must be faced that motivating multi millionaires to sweat blood weekly is a losing battle and applies across the whole Prem, not merely to us. The term “snowflake ” did not appear out of thin air; it started as a most appropriate description of so many younger folk today by comparison with years ago.

  5. Today Mustafi must step up away from home next match at home without Sokratis is doiable bse emirates is a fortress

    But am starting to think Arsenal is just cursed especially in defence whenever both SOKRATIS and KOS become available n are about to stabilise our defence one of them gets injured or suspended

  6. As long as Elneny n Ozil dnt start in midfield.
    The former is shit, d latter ll get bullied

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