You might think that his starting for Arsenal in the Capital One Cup clash with Southampton would mean that our new star Alexis Sanchez might be a doubt for the north London derby with Tottenham on Saturday. But Arsene Wenger is going to have a hard job leaving the Chile international on the bench and a lot of explaining to do to Alexis if he does.
Because another strong candidate for one of the wide forward positions, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, has revealed to Arsenal Player that the new man is totally up for the game and even had to be told to calm down in training as he prepared for his first taste of the local rivalry.
The Ox said, “Alexis and Jack played 90 minutes the other day and they’re usually on second-day recovery. But today Alexis really wanted to train and people had to tell him to take it easy.
“That just sums up how much everyone wants to be around the squad and training, and I think he knew we had a massive game coming up this weekend and, as a new boy, it’s good that he does know that.
“Obviously everyone else that’s been here and been involved in a north London derby knows how big it is, so that just proves the intensity goes up in training and everyone just wants to be around and pushing for a start.”
The Gunners do not usually have any problems getting themselves up for the visit of the spuds and we have had a great record against them in recent years, especially at the Emirates stadium. Danny Welbeck has got experience of firece derby rivalries from his time at Man United and I’m sure he will be well up for his first in north London.
Assuming those two new boys start and Mesut Ozil keeps his place in the middle, who else will make the Arsenal starting line-up?