Confirmed Arsenal team to take on Leicester with formation change

Arsenal have named their team to take on Leicester today, with an exciting 4-3-3 formation being used.

Fans have been calling for a change, with the back three deemed too defensive, and their prayers have been answered.

The Spaniard has opted to name a midfield three of Thomas Partey, Dani Ceballos and Granit Xhaka today, and with Bukayo Saka getting the nod in a front three.

Confirmed XI as found on the Arsenal website:

1 Leno
2 Bellerin
23 David Luiz
6 Gabriel
3 Tierney
8 Ceballos
34 Xhaka
18 T. Partey
7 Saka
9 Lacazette
14 Aubameyang (c)

Substitutes
13 R. Rúnarsson
15 Maitland-Niles
20 Mustafi
25 Elneny
28 Willock
19 Pepe
30 Nketiah

With Partey playing between both Xhaka and Ceballos, I can’t help but be excited ahead of the kick-off, although I do hold some reservations over David Luiz in a back-four once again.

A clean sheet will not be my priority tonight, but it should be a refreshing change, and as long as we get the win, I’m more than happy to see us work on making this system work.

In even better news, Jamie Vardy has been given a place on the bench, seemingly showing that he isn’t deemed fit enough to complete the 90, and they appear to be fielding one of Harvey Barnes or James Maddison up front in his place.

Can David Luiz prove himself in a conventional defence again? Will Xhaka and Ceballos relish the freedom in midfield that Partey should unlock for them? What are your predictions for tonight after seeing the team?

Patrick

Tags Dani Ceballos Granit Xhaka Thomas Partey

231 Comments

      1. No Ozil, no creativity. No ability to use Partey’s skills better. Only attack from the wings, that are stoppable.

        Wonderful, owners of Arsenal, the Kronker-Bonkers. You have managed to force your new coach, er… Manager, to drop his best play maker, and expect creativity.

        Watch this team drop below 10th and be the laughing stock of the EPL. Who in their right mind drops a play maker while paying him 350K/wk?

    1. Really excited. Would have preferred elneny in place of xhaka but fingers crossed xhaka puts in a good performance tonight.

          1. Fair point, but Elneny had more to do than Laca and the defenders, I completely agree with Saka though, I wasn’t expecting him to start.. anyways, cheers to a win!

      1. I really dont know why you and others slate Xaka so much, he is much much improved under MA and he adds balance to the midfield.

  1. Our bench is real thin!..
    Anything other than a win is just unacceptable at this point..
    A goal or 2 will settle this game..
    1-0 to the Arsenal..COYG!

  2. 4-2-3-1 when we have the ball:

    ……………………… Leno
    Bellerin . Luiz . Gabriel . Tierney
    ……………. Partey …………. Xhaka
    Saka ………….. Ceballos …………. Aubameyang
    ……………………… Lacazette

    And 3-4-3 when we’re defending:

    ………………………. Leno
    ……….. Partey . Luiz . Gabriel
    Bellerin . Ceballos . Xhaka . Tierney
    …. Saka … Lacazette … Aubameyang

    I wonder why Wenger and Emery couldn’t train their players with dynamic formation like this. I’m excited to see Saka as inverted RW and I believe we’d beat Leicester easily

    1. Yes gotanidea,

      I love Saka’s position on that right wing, his flair and unpredictability will come in handy, also looking forward to his combination with Bellerin down that right…coyg!

      1. I also can’t wait to see Partey, Bellerin, Saka and Ceballos dissect Leicester’s defense from the right wing

      2. Interesting how nearly none of us got the tactical set up right. I still don’t know what exactly it is , but with the amount of bodies we have forward, I’m happy with it . a goal will come.

    2. For the first time under Arteta, I don’t think the tactics are that complicated. It’s a 4-3-3 in a attack and a 4-3-3 in defense.

      The only grey area is in how many number 8s (box to box) . Whether it’s 3 like man city, two 8s and a 10 (unlikely) one six and two 8s (most likely) or one sic, one eight and one 10 (again, not very likely).

      I don’t think we are going to have the variations in formations though. I think this one is pretty much set in stone.

      1. How naive of me to imagine arteta would go with a straight forward tactical setup . 5 forwards when we have the ball, now that’s ambition.

        I don’t know about ya’ll but I enjoyed that first half

        1. Yeah really enjoyed it too pal! Hopefully more of the same with some clinical finishing from our lads 🤞👊

          1. That’s all that’s missing bruh. Putting the ball in the net. I feel like Leicester will cover that gap in the wide spaces though, so I’m guessing we should try and drop laca into the hole in the second half so we can hit them down the middle.

            1. Not looking good now man! We seem to have run out of ideas, and with vardy on this could go either way, the way were playing 2nd half we need an individual bit of magic or were f$*ked lol 😥

    1. Lol. Don’t jinx it. Yes, I know we usually lose when opportunities come like this but maybe tonight, we’ll have a change

  3. A strong line up. I am confident for a win after seeing the line up: it is a good thing that MA is changing formation today,for I am sure Rogers would have worked on our 3-4-3 system thinking we would line up that way. Arsenal 2 – 1 Leicester

  4. Just saw Partey’s initiation song video…… the team seems to be in high spirits…… COYG!….. let’s win this 💪🏾

  5. Now Arteta has used the formation you are all glamouring for, I hope you guys will leave the guy alone now either win, draw or loose, he is a coach he knows what he is doing whether to use 343 or 433…. Please let’s support the guy…. Thanks, coyg gets me the 3 points and show our opponents that we are here to fight for either league or top 4…

  6. 4 3 3 makes sense but there is slowness and accidents lurking whenever i see xhaka and Luiz names on the team sheet …need to score at least 2 so hope the front line is more effective than in recent games …looking forward to seeing how partey adapts and how he links with Ceballos ..

  7. Can anyone please tell me what BT channel we can see the game on? I realise it is through Sky Sports but can be seen on BT

      1. Thanks SueP. I knew that and havebought it through Sky but I use BT, having changed from Sky to BT and can watch Skymatches on BT, normally. But this pay per view does not let me watch it . Any suggestions please?

          1. Thanks alot Sue P! It seems 496 should be the channel but I still can’t get any connection and now in second half so will stay with radio, like you. Highlights on BBC MotD later tonight at 10.20.

  8. Come on Aubameyang you are out of my team I have jinxed Salah now so no excuse not to score a goal or two.

  9. This is the line up we all know has always been Arteta’s target.
    Everyone dropped points, let’s get this win.
    How’s that not a goal?

  10. What’s happening with Tierney and Saka??
    They are not able put any crosses in box
    All their crosses are hitting 1st defender

      1. Is that what you call a superb cross…. Even an academy player knows he should be crossing a grounder there….poor from Tierney…

      1. Looks like MA has been working under Morinhio rather then pep. MA’s tactics has always been park the bus and score 1-2 on break but when other team does the same he is clueless….he is a small club mentality manager and a big club like Arsenal don’t deserve him. I wanted him in before UE but now I realise how wrong I was..

  11. in hindsight i would say giroud has been a better striker for us than laca.. but still laca has his qualities

      1. Wasn’t the linesman, it was VAR. They said xhaka blocked Schmeichel. Linesman thought xhaka was offside and the ball touched him but when VAR checked, they stupidly decided xhaka was in the way. We were just robbed people

  12. What is the point of xhaka … don’t understand arteta’s logic he literally brings nothing to the game and we still have a creativity deficit in midfield

    1. What has Xhaka some wrong in this game tho?
      Will the hatted ever stop?
      You left Ceballos who has been sloppy, Lacazette that keeps wasting ball upfront and target Xhaka.
      Agenda more important than facts to you lots

      1. You are confusing hatred with realism … suggest you watch the game again … negative passing misplaced passing zero creativity weak defending … you people who condemn ozil but laude this guy have I’m sorry to say lost the footballing plot when it comes to how arsenal can get back on track

    2. You seem to have an inexplicable fixation on Xhaka. He’s done well so far including a fantastic through ball that the forwards couldn’t convert into a goal.

    3. It’s odd that you say we have a creativity deficit in midfield and then choose to haul off the midfielder who’s had the most creative pass from midfield. Maybe watch the match and stop spending your time whining on the blog.

  13. Why is it the camera always zooms in on a player just as they’re snotting all over the pitch – so gross!!!

    Luiz’s passing – 👌

    1. David ‘the quarter back’ luiz!!

      Apart from the lack of a goal or two very good display from us tonight!! Just lacking that final bit of magic but solid performance 👌

        1. Haha same! Just praying vardy doesnt come on and punish us, I’ll take 1-0 today plz 🤞🤞

  14. Decent half but nothing down The right side … aubemayang and ceballos very poor … and the only threat coming from long balls which speaks volumes for midfield … need to pick up pace

    1. Yeah, not sure what Ceballos’ function is in the game. Hugging the right side, not really playing any balls that are making Leicester think. You’d think he would be more released since we have Partey and Xhaka too.

      1. RSH,

        Imo, I think we need a direct winger on that left hand side, someone that can drive at the fullback to disorganise their shape a bit, something a Zaha, Mane or Pulisic does.

    2. RW1,
      Leicester are defending really deep, I think we are doing well tbh. We have to be careful not to get exposed on the break. Leicester did this to a devastating effect against City remember.

      1. True, but they always break with a pacey player like Vardy. They’ve not been able to counter without him today.

  15. To be fair to us, Leicester are here to defend and hit us on the counter, but we are moving the ball with urgency and precision.

    Ceballos is a bit disappointing so far while Partey has not really grown into the game.
    We really need to win this game ahead of Man U next week.

  16. Using Aubameyang and Saka on their stronger sides to penetrate from the wings doesn’t really work. Ceballos also looks awkward on the right side

    I expected 4-2-3-1 when having the ball, but Arteta chose 4-3-3 instead. Unfortunately Xhaka, Partey and Ceballos aren’t as pacey as David Silva and De Bruyne

    1. Bro. Ceballos and Xhaka are taking up fullback positions when we have the ball. They don’t need pace as it’s being put infront of them. and even if they had the pace, there’s no room to run into. Leicester have the midfield jam packed. I think we need to keep going steady , and get our strikers to finish off their chances . We created 11 shots but only 2 were on target. There in lies the problem.

      1. Tierney needs to think before crossing though. Had he released a ground cross, Lacazette would have scored

  17. Wow. Some new kind of football to see there.
    But I don’t know why Laca is dropping a little deeper. Wasn’t the point of 4-3-3 an extra midfielder so that attackers would be attackers? And yeah his hold up play is not that good today, always dropping, losing possesion etc. Maybe the disallowed goal bit his confidence? Hope to see a better version of him in the second half.
    Let’s win this.
    COYG!

      1. I think it would have been better for him to play as a conventional striker this game. The problem with our approach is too many wasted crosses which can be reduced if someone from the mid joins the box like Ceballos and Laca doesnt hang back every time.

  18. WHY play Auba on the right?!?!? Don’t fix this that aren’t broken MA. Geez. Put out your vest squad in their preferred positions. This is what Emery always did wrong trying to be sneaky instead of just playing the way we want to play and out performing our opponents

  19. Seems like the idea to create with long balls from defense into the final third with three players – Luiz, Gabriel and Xhaka. And you can see why. Those guys have long-ball skills that range from very good to exceptional.

    Partey and Ceballos on the other hand are just there to recycle possession and maintain control in midfield. They are not taking any creative responsibilities.

    The forward line and wingbacks are pushing Leicester deep into their own half while waiting for the long ball. This gives space and time to the aforementioned trio – Luiz, Gabriel and Xhaka.

    1. Ceballos should’ve played behind Lacazette as CAM when we have the ball, since he looks awkward on the right side. But Arteta surely knows better

  20. I’m not happy with this performance. We have the chance to go joint top and not creating the chances I would expect a front line like ours should be making then not taking the chances we do get.

  21. Sick of saying the boat has sailed but the idea that this team couldn’t benefit from ozil beggars footballing belief

  22. It’s becoming harder watching this team..I’ll Prolly just settle for the final score line from now on..

  23. How pathetic are xhaka mustafi and Luiz at carrying the ball … it’s painful how slow and purposeless they all are

      1. What gives you the impression I’m surprised? Just saying seen it all before. Complete control then lose. I’m far from surprised

    1. Was that going to be the “f” word Sue? To be honest my mind is now going towards. What exactly is the problem with arsenal this season. We only beat a poor Fulham and Sheffield and narrowly escaped West ham and we’ve had 3 losses against the top 6 already. Now I’m dreading going to man utd next weekend. Do you think we can start to look at Arteta’s tactics or we should still continue to blame the players. Does Arteta teach them sideways and backpassing?

      1. Maybe 😅 I don’t even want to think about another loss next week…
        That team tonight should’ve had more than enough in the tank to win.. questions will soon be asked…

    1. Yup I could feel it coming sue, effing nightmare, no one to blame but ourselves, should of been over in the first half 😥

  24. Brendan Rodgers the master tactician. Letting us keep ball and giving Partey no chance.
    Arteta has become Arsene Wenger.

      1. I of course meant the last 12 years of Arsene. The I paid for the stadium Arsene. The I didn’t see it Arsene. The 8-2 6-3 5-1 6-0 Arsene. Not the Highbury Arsene. Nobody matches him.

  25. The whole team been sloppy with everything.
    Got caught up on the high line there…
    RSH you jinxed this hope you know?😂😂

  26. Arteta deserves to lose. He is just idiot to trust Lacazete. Thats what happens when fail to score good opportunities.

    1. Bad result. Second half particularly poor. I noticed the change of Xhaka playing left wing back really frustrated him so much that he wouldn’t pass to Partey at all!
      Team first above everything but today he didn’t do that. Also noticed the centre forward play is sub standard. However I do think with David Luiz on we don’t lose. I really hope this loss gives us the chance to see Nelson get game time. Not even in the squad, poor decision. Play the player not the name Arteta

  27. We are so so negative with team selection and nothing will change unless we stop worrying about the other teams

  28. Hahahaha……boring boring toothless performance again. What an improvement from MA, we lost against Liverpool and Mancity…now losing against Lescester aka buyern Munich. Now all those optimistic MA supporters will come out and will say we lost 1-0 that’s an improvement but they can not even hide behind this excuse now as we have not lost to lescester at in 23 years…what an improvement Haan ???? 👏👏👏👏

  29. The whole team setup is wrong. I wouldn’t t have played with Xhaka but Elneny. Parteyinfront of defence. No Ceballos and no Lacazette. Sara and AMN as wingers and Auba ad CF.

  30. Lacazette midget legs moron can go fk off. Bellenrin needs boots in his ass untill he sorts out his sexuality

  31. Also sick of listening to the ozil haters on this site people like mr fox who is clueless as far as I can tell about the quality needed to make up a serious footballing outfit … we are playing the ffing ball backwards when one nil down it’s unbelievable

    1. 2019-2020 18 MATCHES 2 ASSISTS
      2018-2019 24 matches 2 assists
      The facts say its been a LONG time since he was “unlocking” defences.

      1. We aren’t even threatening defenses these days … there is neither guile power or intimidation … vardy moved more in the 20 mins he was on than the combined movement of aubemayang and laca over 90 …. man utd villa Leeds next … more of the same and arteta will be worrying a more about clear out than lockdown!!

  32. Again, the same thing when we fall behind. SLow, slow passing, no urgency at all. Entire gam has been like this. And as I type of course freaking Pepe loses the ball in his billionth stupid dribble for us. Joke.

  33. Arteta go teach your pussy teams how to pass. They cant string three passes together. What a loser team Arsenal. Go relegated losers. I hope they go down small wee wee club

  34. That is what happens when you play too much negative football your team just don’t know what attacking football is…they can not come out of the negative mind set….funny thing is some delusional fans actually credited MA for Mancity title wins and turning Sterling into world class, same fans who actually argued MA is way better then Pep….😂🤣

  35. Micro manage too much, absolutely no creativity, and why have Ceballos sitting back when Elneny would do a better job?
    Allowed Leicester too much time to get back and cover. Xhaka isn’t going to create anything from midfield, why not push Partey further forward?
    Poor poor performance from Arsenal; starting to look very stale and running out of ideas seems to be habit of late. No intensity, no ideas, time for Arteta to get some creativity out of the midfielders

  36. Atleast under Arsene Wenger Arsenal were entertaining to watch for neutral fans. Now? Pathetic to watch and terrible result. Even if they win, it is always unfomrtably.

      1. Nothing is gonna change if he keeping playing the underperforming players. Laca and Pepe are useless. They lose possesion way too much.

  37. Arsenal players should score some own goals to give them some confidence on how to score. I have raised my concern before so many times that we have been playing slow and dreadful football after lockdown but I was told to stop bitching and stop projecting doom n gloom….atleast I was and am not delusional n blind like you guys.

    1. We always seem to bottle it when results ho our way we never take advantage that’s why you will never see Arsenal challenge for the prem league title it will never happen glad I saw the achievements under Wenger cos will never happen again definitely not in my life time!!

      1. I am glad to have seen the great era of legend called Wenger as well. I always said to ppl, fans will realise as years go by how great was Wenger and we were truly blessed to have him like Barcelona are for Messi and RM were for Ronaldo. All those Wenger haters and abusers can enjoy the slap in the face. The heights we achieved in his era, will never be achieved again.

  38. Tough time! Hope people don’t call for MA’s head after this as it is more the players fault than the manager’s, although that second half was really shocking!

    1. Are you serious Sid, it’s the manager fault. The type of football we are playing with no creativity plus tactics at home n away it’s all to do with manager not players. Are you telling me Lecister has a better squad then us or other so many EPL teams. It’s not only loss but look at our performances/ kind of football we play it’s slow and lethargic. No creativity and so negative minded that all comes from manager tactics.

      1. Not saying he shouldn’t be blamed, but I think the players disappointed him more. What can a great through ball do if someone has a bad first touch or a player like Lacazette can’t score. In the first half we had a pretty good structure with good balls to our forwards who promptly wasted chances. In the second half, unfortunately Luiz injury meant we had to go back to the defensive set up. And we suffered for our complacency.

  39. After 46 years of supporting this club, I think I’m done. This stupidity is enough. I’m done. I wish you guys better days. I’m getting old so I need to save myself any issue that will fast forward my death, which this lousiness that arsenal has become is going to do to me. Fair well guys .

  40. Arteta needs to make some changes. His ideas didnt work again today. Ceballos was out of this game whole 90 minutes. Saka again the only one creating chances (along with David Luiz), Lacazette as usual misses an easy chance. Auba does nothing again, Pepe dribbles into himself… It’s like someone needs to splash cold water in all these players faces because we play so slow and boring lately. Mikel’s first slump as manager and he needs to figure it out quickly because the schedule only picks up.

    1. You don’t need to splash water ok any one. As hurtful it might be, we have to accept that arsenal football club is not good anymore. 90% of the personnel are below average. If anyone want to masturbate him or her with something different, it’s up to him or her

    2. I thought Saka also was a bit off today. He was rushing a lot of his decisions and was clearly quite frustrated by the Leicester defence. If only someone taller had met those Tierney crosses😔😔
      Laca and Nketiah can’t be our main strikers, they both seem to regress…

      1. it wasnt his best game but only one making things happen. Auba, our captain does little half the time, laca is just not good, and ceballos had a stinker.

        1. True that. Hope we have an upturn of form, because clearly the formation change didn’t work. Nelson and Saliba should be atleast considered now, with the Luiz injury. And please come back soon Mart, we all miss you…

  41. Defense was solid. Partly and Xhaka controlled the middle but there was no quality in front them. I wonder if you Ozil haters even watch these games cause we needed him today.

    1. 2019-2020 18 MATCHES 2 ASSISTS
      2018-2019 24 matches 2 assists
      The facts say its been a LONG time since he was “unlocking” defences.

      1. stats under emery mean nothing if he had it his way our center backs would trade passes for the full 90mins

  42. Arsene Wenger wouldn’t have accepted the Ozil exclusion. MA being desperate for this job accepted that without thinking of the effects it will have on the team and he is paying the price for that.

  43. What the hell is this?!

    No one wants to play!
    MA sorry .. after having partey in your team you started playing Ceballos RB and push Bellerin forward?!

    Pepe is dead cold!! Auba is not in the mood to play!! and what the hell with Laca goal, why do we need our players to stand on the line in first place!!!?!?!?

    Mustafi welcome back .. this goal is on him he left Gabrial alone between two attackers! the same old Mustafi !

    1. “Mustafi welcome back .. this goal is on him”
      Is it though..sounds like you just dislike the guy..At least he tried to make things happen..

  44. 1973 was the last time Leicester beat us at home! Vardy is on 11 now, only 1 behind Rooney…
    I’m lost for words…..

    1. Hi Sue. I am disappointed at the results. This match spoilt by weekend. But we have to support the team. I am not comfortable with Mustafi at the back. We should sell him in January

  45. This has been the pattern since lockdown ended all that AM has done is to concentrate on not losing by playing negative tactics .Its clear there’s no cutting edge or penetration . No way this is an acceptable by Arsenal standards. AM is lucky there are no fans in the stadium boos would have rung out. He has made bold decisions but his results are not backing up his bravado. What now Arteta where is the high intensity pressing and team dynamics that has excluded MO because he is not good enough .

    1. Finally some one who is not blind folded and can see the pattern since lockdown ended. 👍…most of the fans follow or watch football for fun n entertainment, I would never want my team to win something playing this dreaded football atleast even when things were bad in Wenger era we played some good entertaining football.

  46. No forward passes,no attacking
    Ozil and Matteo are the two midfielders who could break defences
    MA must go back to his friend…we deserve better than this

    1. 2019-2020 18 MATCHES 2 ASSISTS
      2018-2019 24 matches 2 assists
      The facts say its been a LONG time since he was “unlocking” defences.

  47. Is it in Arsenal DNA to be passing backwards?

    We are paying our strikers 1000’s of pounds every week without doing nothing? It seems every coach at arsenal trust this sideways and backwards passing

    Our strikers are not getting the services they need. The little chance we get too, here comes laca to miss them. We needed the win to go to OT.

    Leicester were comfortable playing us because we are predictable. From Gabriel to Xhaka to Tierney back to Xhaka to Gabriel. Shocking!!!

  48. Now I completly support Mikel Arteta and the clubs stance it takes on all things…….however!
    How is it that we are unable to get through to this stubborn fool that is Ozil?
    I try not to think about it as it makes me angry that his work rate I guess along with politics I’m sure is why hes now out of the squad.
    BUT! Surely there is an argument for putting him on the bench and bringing him on at 60 to 70 mins for maybe that one bit of magic that seems so hard for the others to create.
    How did we lose this game tonight?!
    Someone said on the BBC site well need to score two goals as Vardy will come on and score how right where they.
    The 1st time Leicester have beaten us at our ground since 1973 shockingly sad 🙁

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