Could this be the Arsenal team Emery picks against Watford?

The game against Watford on Monday night presents a very tricky dilemma for Unai Emery, he cannot pick a weakened team because points are needed desperately to maintain our push for a top-four finish but at the same time he cannot put out his full strength side knowing that we face Napoli just three days later.

I think we can all agree that it is a no brainer that Leno will be back in goal and that the defence basically picks itself with Sokratis being the only one to miss out due to suspension.

The real tricky area is midfield and forward line.

I would be very surprised if the manager does not keep with Kolasinac and Maitland Niles on the flanks and I suspect that Emery will rest Ramsey, he will want to keep him in reserve and fresh for the Napoli game and it would not surprise me if he also rested Torreira because he will definitely be needed in Italy and so a return of the much-maligned Elneny and Guendouzi partnership could be on the cards.

I also fully expect Ozil to be on the bench for the Watford game and I would have expected that regardless of the upcoming Napoli match, I simply do not think Emery trusts Ozil against a team like Watford which means that he will probably bring in Henrikh Mkhitaryan as his direct replacement.

I do not see Emery going with two forwards in this one either and out of Lacazette and Aubameyang, I can see him going with the Gabon international this time around.

Finally, that means there is likely to be a spot for Iwobi as well.

So, this is my predicted line up against Watford.

Leno
Monreal
Koscielny
Mustafi
Kolasinac
Maitland Niles
Gunedozi
Elneny
Mkhitaryan
Iwobi
Aubameyang

Now, I could easily be wrong, Emery may well chance Ramsey and Torreira, he may bring back Xhaka and even finally find a spot of Suarez, but for me, based on what Emery has done before, I am happy with what I have predicted.

13 Comments

  1. I expect to see changes, but if Emery only learnt one thing from the Everton game, it’s that you CANNOT start Elneny and Guendouzi together. I know we’re short on players, and we have Napoli on Thursday, but maybe Jenkinson at RB/RWB, and AMN in central midfield?

    I know he’s trash away from home, but I’d start Ozil against Watford, and save other players for the Napoli game. Starting Ozil away to Napoli is just asking for trouble. Start with the same team we had against Utd, or Tottenham away, bar Mustafi.

  2. Funny enough, we are currently sixth, but if we win our next two games, we could be back to third, as I expect City to hand Spurs an L in their next league match.
    This should be enough motivation for Emery to go all out for a win against Watford.
    EPL route to UCL is easier than the EL route. We shouldn’t play gamble with our EPL matches.

    Emery should field the strongest possible line up against Watford. Take it a game at a time.

  3. Emery can only play Elneny and Gunfoiz in midfield at his expense basing on what happened at Everton .

  4. I wish I had a pound for every time Koulibaly has been mentioned on these pages by so called experts. I watched that big lump playing for Napoli the other night and thought he was two bob. Also, how much is he going to cost. Sure one of the experts will be able to tell me. he’d be a complete waste of money. There’s far better central defenders in the Premier League

    1. Koulibaly is a solid defender. He didn’t have a good game against us, just as I hoped ?. I feel he’s one of the top 5 defenders in the world at present. You should’ve seen the way he handled Mbappe against PSG….. he’s been in form for a few years now. Chelsea reportedly had a 70m bid rejected… that should give you a hint of how good he is

  5. Just finished watching MOTD and if that would have been Manchester United playing Burnley instead of Cardiff City they have got three penalties. Absolute disgraceful performance by Mike Dean and his linesmen. I feel sorry for Neil Warnock and Cardiff City, with last weeks three points stolen from them by incompetent officials together with the three points this week they could be six points better off and out of the bottom three. How much longer have we got to put up with these officials? While their favourites are winning, that’s how long. People like Warnock and Wenger who speak their mind about these disgraceful officials will always be frowned upon and treated in this way. Without doubt these refs are crooked and when I say crooked I’m not talking about some shady character turning up at their house in the middle of the night with brown paper envelopes full of money. I’m talking about bias officials who lean more towards one club than another, and bias is crooked what ever way you look at it. These officials give certain decisions to team like Manchester United that they would never give to a team like Cardiff. The only way to stop this is for EUFA to revolve referees around the top leagues in Europe, ie one week you’d have a Dutch ref, the next week a German ref and so on. This way the referee would have no preference for any club whatsoever. It would also help the standard of refereeing in the future. This is now a multi billion pound game and imperative we get the decision right.

    1. That’s a really good idea… having officials from different countries would almost certainly eliminate any bias against teams, and would also improve the competence of referees. I’m not sold on VAR, it constitutes time wasting, and players might have to protest before the referee checks. Knowing how manipulative footballers can be, they’re probably going to have the ref check every decision once they’re trying to hang on to a lead in the dying minutes.

      1. You’re obviously a sensible poster who knows what their talking about AY75. I will take a closer look at Koulibaly in the future.

    2. We VAR as soon as possible. That’s the only solution to problem of refs robbing teams of their precious points. I felt sad for Cardiff too. They have been victimized by these bad refs.

  6. Here is a controversial proposal…what about giving Nketiah a start?

    Believe he will run his socks off up front and give us pressure from the front!

    So maybe my team would look like this upon reflection…

    Leno
    Lichsteiner Mustafi Koscielny Monreal
    Mkhitaryan Goundouzi Xhaka Iwobi
    Laca Nketiah

    Resting wing backs, Auba, Ramsey, Torreira and Özil.

    Get them 3 points!

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors