He may be playing mind games in order to keep his opposite number Claudio Ranieri guessing about which Arsenal players will be lining up to face the reigning Premier League champions today, but Arsene Wenger was reported on the Arsenal website this week stating that he would definitely not bring all three of the late returners from Euro 2016 into the side today.
The boss said, “Yes, I will consider them for selection this weekend. Of course they have not played any games for a while, so I have to be selective and I cannot go for the three because that would be too risky. But basically with Laurent Koscielny I have no choice! If I have to take a gamble on one, it’s certainly on him.”
With Germany going out of the euros before France, you would have to say that Mesut Ozil would be the next choice to feature against the Foxes and I reckon he will, so that means that unless Wenger has been having us all on, there will be no place in the team for Olivier Giroud.
The experiment to use Alexis Sanchez through the middle against Liverpool last weekend did not go well so it will surely be our flying England forward Theo Walcott leading the line and that could make sense for a number of reasons.
His speed and movement as well as a growing understanding with Ozil could cause the home side all sorts of problems but mainly I think having Theo up front means that our approach to the match will be different and will entail tactics that do not suit Leicester’s way of playing so much.
We can sit deeper and be more compact and defensively minded, while Ranieri’s team will have to be more proative instead of soaking up pressure before launching a Vardy led counter attack. Will Arsenal change tactics and leave Giroud on the bench for this crucial match? And if so, will it work?
Bob.