It does not take a genius to work out that Arsenal would be better off if Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey were in the starting line-up when we kick off the new Premier League campaign with a home game against Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side a week on Sunday.
Both the Wales international midfielder and the Chilean forward put in impressive performances for their countries over the summer, with Alexis helping Chile to a remarkable second Copa America win in a row after securing their first ever triumph just a year ago.
Ramsey’s Wales could not quite make it all the way at Euro 2016 but they did greatly exceed the pre-tournament expectations and the Arsenal star was one of the driving forces behind that success. So you would expect both to come back to club football with high confidence and good form.
Having said that, they have only just returned for pre-season training, so I have to wonder about the Squawka.com report that claims Arsene Wenger is planning to fast track the pair into the squad to face Liverpool next weekend. Is it really worth the risk of losing one or both of them for a spell by playing them before they are ready?
Of course we want to get off to a good start and are already going to be without both first choice centre backs Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny as well as our main centre forward Olivier Giroud, but it is just one game and three points at stake.
With our final couple of pre-season games coming up tomorrow and Sunday, the boss has his last chance to look at his options before the season begins, so if he is planning to use Ramsey or Sanchez I guess we will soon find out. Do you think it would be right to risk them?
Bob.