I am not trying to tell the Arsenal manager what to do, and I doubt very much whether he would take much notice if I did, but I will go ahead and give Arsene Wenger my thoughts on the matter of which 11 players I think he should pick to start the first of our Emirates Cup games anyway.
For me it would have to be the strongest possible Arsenal side, although I do not think that the Gunners should abandon the usual pre-season principles of giving some fringe players and the most likely of the youngsters coming up through the academy a chance to shine in front of the home crowd.
Wenger spoke at length the other day about sticking with the policy of promoting from within and not jumping on the Premier League bandwagon of throwing money around like a crazed lottery winner and I do not expect him to do anything different today.
I just think that we should start with a strong team and then bring on subs as we go. We do still need to get ready for the Community Shield and the start of the season and so 45 minutes with the team that is likely to start those games would be a good idea.
Also, that way should give us the best possible start and hopefully get the game won by halftime because Wenger does want to win these games and get on a roll. So assuming that the prof has the same idea, what do you think that strongest XI will be? This would be mine.
Cech
Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal
Coquelin, Cazorla
Walcott, Ozil, Wilshere
Giroud
That may seem harsh on Aaron Ramsey but he should get the second half to state his case for starting in the middle and I think Jack is better out wide, although there is a strong case for Akpom on the left as well. What do you think Gooners?