Arsenal starting XI for pre-season starter in Lens?

If you did not know, Arsenal fans, the first match of our pre-season schedule will take place against the French club Lens tonight and you can watch the game as it is being streamed live on the Arsenal website and they also have an app so make sure you go to Arsenal.com and are ready for it.

There are three weeks and four more games to go for the Gunners before the opening match of the Premier League season at home to Liverpool, but this is still an important period for Arsene Wenger and for the players to state their case for a part in the serious business to come.

Even at this early stage there is a lot for the manager to consider, especially in the key area of creating and scoring goals. The pressure is on him to sign a striker and with the team facing a tough start without big players like Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey, Olivier Giroud and maybe even Alexis Sanchez he will be hoping for some good form from the likes of Theo Walcott and Chuba Akpom and it will be very interesting to see what team Wenger picks to start in Lens.

Will Akpom get the chance in the middle or will Theo be his first choice? Are Campbell and Wilshere fit enough to start? Will Serge Gnabry begin to show that his Arsenal career is not coming to an end. Will Alex Iwobi carry on from where he left off last season?

With no Xhaka or Ramsey I expect Coquelin and Elneny to start but there are other options like Zelalem and we cannot be sure what system Arsenal will play against a Ligue 2 club. The defence is easier I suppose and so this is how I think the Gunners team will look like.

Cech
Chambers, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Monreal
Coquelin, Elneny
Gnabry, Iwobi, Walcott
Akpom

What do you think Gooners, and what do you expect from Arsenal tonight?

Bob.

Tags Akpom Walcott

13 Comments

  1. It might be nice to see some more academy players. Big fan of Jeff Adelaide, older Willock. Also trying out some Stefan Oconnor right back with Chambers in Merts spot. I don’t know that Iwobi will be a good number 10? Might need someone else there?

    1. Cech
      Chambers – Mertesacker – Gabriel – Gibbs
      Coquelin – Elneny
      Oxlade – Wilshere – Iwobi
      Walcott

  2. Cech
    Debuchy..Mert…Gabs…Monreal
    Coquelin…Eleney
    Iwobi…..Zelalem…..Ox
    Walcott

      1. Hahaha ? He hasn’t done much, Full Stop! ?
        Maybe at some point during the pre-season fixtures, we will see him rolling around the floor, holding his glass ankle?Or worse! During training… my moneys on Jack getting injured before the season kicks off!

        #Its always the same movies @ Arsenal ???

  3. Maybe we will see Martinez start instead of Cech and ‘IF’ he does then that would suggest to me that he is more than likely to end up being our Number 2 for the up and coming season.
    Whether we like it or not, Ospina will demand to leave and with Szczesny heading back to Roma, Martinez will be promoted to second choice keeper.

  4. Why dont we go for players like pjaca!! He is pretty good. We r chasing higuian etc from past 3-4 years. They r all over prized. We should try yarmalenko, pjaca kinda players. How the hell we dint spot them!! They r superb players and not over prized. Sorry for yelling, I’m just pissed off with our transfer strategy.

    Anyway, looking forward to see our first match! COYG!!

    1. Everyone is at the moment… Because the rumor mill isn’t exactly pointing in any certain direction and we seem a bit lost. Personally for me, the deals we seem to conclude don’t get leaked until the latter stages of the process. Crossing my fingers something’s working behind closed doors 🙂

  5. As far us I’m concerned there’s 3 positions up for grabs in our strongest XI if someone feels like impressing over pre-season!! CM, RW and CB
    CB – Mertz, Gabz, Chambers, Holding. Not much between them. IMO Mertz has tonnes more composure and experience than the others. But third choice is up in the air….
    CM, CAM and RW – I’ve lumped them together, but mainly because of the amount of versatile players on our books and arguably our three best attack minded midfielders (Ozil, Cazorla, Ramsey) are either on a deserved long break or not available for selection (I read Cazorla has a slight achilles problem… 🙁 )…
    Wilshere, Elneny, Coquelin, Campbell, Ganbry, JRA, Iwobi, Walcott, Ox. Mmmmm gonna be some tasty competition!!! say what you like about those players (as I know some of them aren’t exactly fan faves ATM) but surely with a few on the fringes competition will hopefully be fierce from a few!!
    Who knows? Ramsey at the very least inspired some hope in the fanbase after heroic displays at the Euros.. (the Belgium game he was simply sublime!) I’m wondering if Theo, Ox or Wilsh put in some stellar displays the average fan may give them a bit of slack for the upcoming season..

    1. Oh and striker obviously… Chubs, Sanogo and whoever else Wenger took. There’s going to be a squad place up for grabs for sure.. #Sanogofromtheashes

  6. Here is my starting XI vs Lens as I posted yesterday

    Martinez
    Debuchy, Mertesacker, Chambers, Monreal;
    Coquelin, Elneny;
    Chamberlain, Iwobi, Reine-Adelaide;
    Walcott.

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