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[Image] Confirmed Arsenal team to face Benfica in Athens

So, here we go with Arsenal’s biggest game of the season so far, and Artea has made a few changes from the game against Man City.

The boss has kept faith with Captain Aubameyang to lead the line despite his awful performance in Rome, but we do have Luiz and Gabriel back in defence. If we can keep a clean sheet we will definitely go through!

So, we jhave Tierney and Bellerin running down the flanks, and an attacking line-up all in all.

Do you think this should be good enough to beat Benfica?

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197 Comments

  3. Arsenal will win, but Arteta is an arrogant person..

    The selection is not the best looking at the bench..

    1. Personally, I think Arteta was the wrong person to be given the managers job at Arsenal. We need someone who wouldn’t be afraid to tell a player he needs to improve in certain areas of the pitch. But it appears that Arteta seems to be trying to emulate his old boss Pep Guardiola!

  5. I hope Aubameyang, Odegaard and Smith-Rowe remember what they did wrongly in the first leg. Among them, Smith-Rowe is the best in hold-up play

    1. Was wondering what exactly he’s done wrong… His hold up play and layoffs to the wings was missed in our last matches… Cedric is fresher and technically better then Bells…
      Someone might get injured today, I sincerely hope not.

    2. Was wondering what exactly he’s done wrong… His holdup play and layoffs to the wings was missed in our last matches… Cedric is fresher and technically better then Bells…
      One of these guys might get injured today, I sincerely hope not.

  9. Good lineup based on selection choices; Partey not being 100%. I just hope we attack and don’t sit back and counter punch.

    We should go at them often and early, not play negative football. Hope Willian never separates his bum from the bench, and Martinelli and his intensity gets some minutes to rest Saka.

  10. Strong looking line up but would have prefered to let Saka get a breather but no can fill his shoes in his absence which i find is ironic cause the lad is only 19 yrs old

    1. Yeah,but Lacca should have started in place of Saka.Saka needs a rest,isee us turning him into Jack Wilshire soon.Also What massage is Arteta sending to Lacca and Martinelli?What wrong did they do?

      1. I dnt know what happend between lacca and arteta but i would be cautious with Martinelli considering the way he plays

    2. No offense, but Saka deserves to rest. Martinelli should have started ahead if him. Saka with the way he is playing can get injured. The guy has played too many games for goodness sake. Playing Martinelli makes a lot of sense in that he can play in the forward role and Aubameyang plays on the left. Arteta should utilize his squad effectively. Saka played the first leg last thursday, played against man city in the weekend, he is playing tonight and will also start this weekend. Is it until he gets a long term injury before Arteta realises that the guy deserve a rest?

  11. Hein is an 18 years old goalkeeper.

    Fair line up. Aubameyang and others should be ruthless in burying chances created.

    Lacazette, Martinelli, Pepe and Partey has to come in second half from the 65th minute.

    Let’s hope for a 2 – 1 win to us.

  12. I will only watch Arsenal play under a respectable manager not a rookie, Let’s see how next season will look like under a top experienced manager.The remaining games/competition is just an academic exercise .. pointless league position but no you and no trophy this season any fool can see that.Enjoy watching the paint dry today I Don’t have time for that.

      1. This is not negativity, it’s so sad the way the whole arsenal system are punishing their fans emotionally year in year out. A serious team like Chelsea sacked their rookie coach who was even doing better than Arteta and hired a more experienced coach and what did they get? they beat Atletico at their home. Arsenal cannot even beat Burnley and Aston villa anymore because of bad decisions and biased selections not because we don’t have some good players anyway, but our almighty coach will stick to his underperforming favourites players. Can’t you see that arsenal has now become a permanent mid table team. And the annoying thing is that some fans have literally accepted it by making excuses for Arteta.

    3. Lord Denning, if your not watching, why bother to comment?
      Hope you enjoy watching The News and Emerdale then.

  13. Lets see what happens at the end of the game but i think we’ll crash out tonight&in addition smith-rowe is not a winger,he performs better as a 10

  14. As soon as the rumours started to swirl regarding the ridiculous projected transfer fee for Ode, he should be placed firmly on the bench, then Auba should have been out wide, with Laca starting up top and ESR back in the middle of the park…not only are we not playing our best 11, but we’re likewise devaluing one of our only sellable assets come the summer(Laca)…furthermore, we’re giving a guy, who will likely never play for us after his loan deal expires, significant minutes in his preferred position instead of letting our only real revelation for this season, ESR, play to his strengths…hopefully with Tierney starting it will push ESR inside a bit more so that he can maybe provide Auba with some much-needed service…this whole Ode/ESR gig reminds me too much of the old school Wengerian shoehorning selection decisions that oftentimes fell flat on gameday

  15. I am OK with Defense & midfield. Not OK with the forward lineup.
    Would have preferred ESR in the middle. Pepe out wide left and Laca in the middle with Auba on the bench. We are more of a dynamic team this.

    Just hope our season does not finish today.

  16. Reiss Nelson made it into the match training photos but not the matchday squad. There was space on the bench but not on the plane!

  17. Good looking line up.
    Everyone deserves their place.
    This team should win well.
    The bench is exceedingly strong. Arteta has this team ready.
    Am excited about our prospects.
    Gooners 4 Benfica 1

  18. I personally think playing Martinelli wont be best for the long run considering the way he pushes himself and remember he is coming back from a knee injury ad let him play the final 15 min

  20. Good Enough. I think most of us would like to see Cedric,but Tierney is king off Injury prone. If Cedric gets injured and Tierney gets injured. We got a problem. So I think Bellerin is the safer option right now.

  23. Choping changing CBS, 2 sub goalies no balugon on bench but lightweight eddie I give up.. COYG

  25. Pushing ESR wide left taking away his ability of finding pocket of spaces between opposition midfield and back 4

  31. ESR is wasted in the wings, especially with Odegard not offering much through the middle. I’m glad we are winning but we should be shredding this ordinary Beffica side.

  35. What a time to concede that goal, we absolutely need to score the next goal because if benfica gets another its pretty much game over.

  37. If Bellerin would have ran instead of jogging back, he would have intercepted the ball down his wing before the freekick was awarded. We need defenders that will bust their gut to win the ball back, hope the rumours are true.

  38. Basically we lost the midfield in this game … that’s because xhaka and smith Rowe don’t have enough skill on the ball to link up with others and Luiz can only play geriatric football … arteta is comfortable with moyse style defensive mindset and he picks second rate players who are comfortable with that … even if we win this there is no way we will reach the final let alone win it … let’s see if this club has any ambition left come end of season

  39. Not much a goalkeeper can do with a free kick like that. Let’s regroup and come back at them. We need to find a way through the middle. Their plan is to neutralize our wings.

    1. Regroup you say, we don’t regroup but the opponent time and chance to regroup but passing back. We keep going back needlessly when we should have attack them.

  40. Arteta tried something different by making Odegaard drift to the right side, but Odegaard still offers nothing special. The attackers tried to swap their positions, but their chemistry is still not good

    I think we have a chance to win the game without the extra time though, because Benfica were also not in a good shape

  41. The earlier Arsenal sack Arteta the better for the club..

    Arteta is nothing special…. Arsenal squad is far better than what they offer on the field.

    Players are playing with so much restrictions, no free flow of passes, creativity is ntn to write home about, what exactly is Arteta training them for?

  42. They must not score any goal now otherwise we are out. Thank you Arteta for talking the talk and not walk the walk. Is the first half show what you said about the second leg been a final.

    1. The question is why ESR is being played out of position to accommodate Odegard at 10 when he isn’t our player nor is he playing well.

  45. Starting an ineffective odegaard who is definitely not going to be here next season at the expense of ESR who plays best through the middle and a martinelli on the wings who are our actual players is the height of stupidity from Arteta. Some things do not need to be learnt, it’s basic common sense

    2. Don’t say that loudly Kstix. before you are called a juvenile and an impatient kid who doesn’t think. Common you gunners!!!!

  46. I can’t believe what arsenal is playing. Is this how Arteta intends winning Europa league. Aubameyang is a great striker but adds nothing to our play. Pep did it with arguero. If he isn’t ready to be an all round player then use him sparingly. How can he just be running into empty spaces. He does that alot.

  47. I won’t watch this match.
    Starting ESR on the wing when he’s been nothing short of a Kevin De bruyne in the center, and not starting Martinelli.
    If Arteta’s plans had been working I’d have understood. This is just plain irrational.

  48. Typical of us atm!
    Just waiting to concede instead of upping the tempo a tad to get the 2nd.
    Killer instinct guys!!
    So frustrating.

  49. Problem now is that Benfica ONLY have to score one, even if we score one.
    I bet the commentators will be cheeky if we score: “Arsenal have scored, but they’re still a goal away from heading out of the Europa League!”

    1. True… We now have to at least score 2…
      Because right now Benfica has easy task..
      Just to to score once..

      1. Just like last season v Olympiacos… we should’ve won with Aubas over head kick then he missed a sitter with the last kick of the game. Away goals as we cant close games out at all…

  50. so much good work by pepe and lacazette in round robin to get us here…

    just to sit on the bench and watch now

  52. @kstix
    Agree to s degree but in.fairness odegard hadnt been with us and the squad that long and I’ve seen him play before he was pure class. Maybe martinelli isnt on it atm.
    We don’t spend time around the players or training we just go by past games and fifa ratings!
    In Auba I cant help feel that hea sapped of fitness I wonder if hes had covid at some point and we kept it quiet or something like that, he looks like a 75 minute player from the start, not explosive sharp or alert.
    Get that man a red bull!

  53. If we go out tonight would that not mean that Mikel Arteta isnt the right fit for Arsenal? As much as I like him I dont see anything special and he has restricted our play to his way or no way which obviously isnt working.

    1 win in last 6… 11th in the table start of March & out of every cup competion with no Europena football next season. Just a possibility!!

  54. It’s not just the missed chances that cost us, it’s the goals we score that aren’t given because we forget to play to the rules. Innit?

  56. Remember auba ran off the pitch one game as he had the *hits?
    Hes come.outt.late again, this guys got a bowel disorder or struggles with nervous energy making him need to go. Would explain his dip in.performance and fitness.

    1. I know I’ll get slaughtered for this but this is now laughable and we are a complete mess, we still have time but if we do go out arteta must be sacked on the plane journey home. Get aubameyang off ffs

    2. Goodbye, everybody, I’ve got to go
      Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
      Mama, ooh

      Goodbye Cebalos, now you have got to go!
      You were a queen in the midfield when we needed a King.
      What a mad rid: This surely must sealed your back to madrid return destiny!

  85. Why the absolute fck are we crossing in balls .
    Like what the actual fck .
    Willian comes on and we have a potential world class kid sat there thinking why am I not on that pitch .
    Lost for words TBH

  89. Firstly why send both CBS up for the corner why wait to bring on Larry to sure up the mf once we concede and why the hell bring on willian? He gives is nothing!

  92. I don’t know why they keep over passing to Bellerin instead of the left to Tierney. Bellerin is a dead player and he is does nothing for us offensively.

  94. At least Unai got us to the finals.
    Arteta hasn’t been able to make it to the quarter finals.
    If he had the experience, he would have known from the start, that we had an unbalanced team. A very weak midfield. He put his hopes on Ceballos and expected Partey to perform miracles.
    Such a shame.

  99. Get AMN back from WB at least he fought hard for the badge.
    Why do.we have so little belief at the moment? Just dont get it!

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