After a much-needed win over relegation-threatened Middlesbrough on Monday night, Arsenal head to Wembley to take on Manchester City in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. Following Arsene Wenger’s surprising tactical change of going with a 3-4-2-1 formation, it will be interesting to see how the Frenchman approaches this one. Personally, I would stick with the new system and here’s how I would go about it.
Starting from the back, I’d more or less stick with the same backline, with the exception of bringing in Kieran Gibbs in place of Nacho Monreal. The Spaniard simply does not seem to have the legs as we saw in the game against Boro and I feel Kieran would be better suited to play at wing-back as pace will be crucial in dealing with the likes of Sane and De Bruyne. Koscielny, Holding, Gabriel and Oxlade-Chamberlain in particular all had good games on Monday night and I believe they should all keep their place for Sunday’s big clash.
Moving to the midfield, I’d stick with Xhaka and Ramsey. The Welshman made a crucial assist, worked hard for the team and really played the role of a box-to-box midfielder against Boro and should be given a start. As for Xhaka, he did his job as well and ran his socks off in a game where he really had to prove himself and displayed good skill to win the freekick that Sanchez tucked away. With his confidence growing, I believe he should keep his place
.
Moving to the forwards, there can be no arguments that it should be the Gunners’ star duo, Ozil and Sanchez, who should behind the striker. With Manchester City not having the best of defences either, it makes sense to give our two best players the creative freedom to float around in the opposition’s final third and create chances. But with respect to the striker, I believe Danny Welbeck, who returned to training, should take the place of Olivier Giroud.
While the Frenchman did have a decent game at the Riverside, I believe Welbeck will be more of a threat against the City defence. The Englishman can make runs down the flanks, catch on to quick through balls and would be better suited to play on the counter attack, which we may have to do against a team like Manchester City. So overall, I’d make just two changes to the side that ended our ‘away jinx’ on Monday night, with Gibbs and Welbeck coming in for Monreal and Giroud respectively.
My Arsenal XI: Cech; Koscielny, Holding, Gabriel, Gibbs; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Xhaka, Ramsey, Gibbs; Ozil, Sanchez; Welbeck.
Who would you pick?
Anurag
Anybody apart from Ramsey he is the worst player we have!
How many positions is Gibbs playing?
Watched my chels v spuds
Why havnt we created a dier or Kane
Why didnt we buy Wanyama,Ali or Alderweld
We dont have to bother what lineup Wenger puts, it’s hard to go past Man City, and even if we luckily do, Chelsea will reap us apart, again.. it’s gonna be painful coz it’s a final.. we are winning nothing this season, let’s just swallow that bitter truth
Spurs deserve to be in the final.
Yup, it sure looks that way?
Chelsea 4
Spuds 2
Every team deserves to be in the final, even Sutton.. hahaha
Danny Murphy talks some rubbish.. saying Conte left out Hazard and Costa, was a mark of respect to the spuds, because he needed to more defensive against them … no … he’s just trying to save his best players for the run in and evidently didn’t think it was worth tiring them against the spuds.
that moment your watching Spuds & you realize how screwed you are as an AFC fan… The analyst at half time said, the difference between Spurs & Arsenal is that Arsenal have an owner that doesnt care if his team do not win… Thats true and depressing. Stan is heavily involved w financing the largest stadium deal ever in LA for the Rams and Chargers, AFC took a back seat, and it shows. Problem is, he does not care, any other team would see its obvious time to move on w Wenger, but Stan is comfy w Arsene watching his wallet. Its sad, but could be dry for a foreseeable future
Look at how Hazard turned out for Chelski… he was swiped under our noses while Wenger was counting his pennies … Unfortunately everything need changing at Arsenal manager … board .. coaching.. scouts… I think Grimandi does ok scouting, but Dick Law is hopeless, I also think we are getting about 20% of the potential we have in the current team, which could change with fresh coaching.
I don’t feel bad anymore about the countless stars Mr. Wenger should have signed bcos they would have left like Alexis and Mesut are leaving.
People are talking about all these people coming to the club, but I don’t see how that works … out of the champions league, losing all our stars and unlike manure, who were in a somewhat similar position, restricted by a wage structure. Wenger has to keep Sanchez, even if it means spending a few extra quid … obviously there are limitations, but it is mainly his stubbornness that has got us into this position in the first place.
i cant believe I am supporting chelsea today, thats freaking hard!
Had to laugh when I heard chelski supporters singing ‘Stand up if you hate tottenham’. My enemy’s enemy is my friend ….
I’m so like the attitude of spurs players.
Some very poor defending today. Good game to watch but poor defending from spuds, that was the difference, Chelsea defended better and fired in some tough to save shots.
Sucker punch
We are so far behind both spuds and Chels.
4-2 now
Some tom goals today and I so wish we could compete with these two just on a hard work basis
?? Fork Me!
Let’s hope that Wenger puts in a bit more effort than Anurag’s starting eleven ? no Bellerin, no Walcott and Gibbs has been named twice ?
Glad spuds lost but we are are miles behind both teams.
AKBs will swallow you alive, they never wanna hear that Spurs is above Arsenal in any way, even they still believe we gonna finish above them like we always do.. hehehehe..
I too would like to to see the BeeGees playing but we only have one!
i wont be happy should we lose tomorrow, but as long as the spuds are going to win nothing its ok. gooner = forever
This is game to go back to what has worked well for us in the past. That means having Theo and Alexis leading the attack.
Alexis
Welbeck/Iwobi Ozil Walcott
Xhaka Elneny
Monreal Koscielny Mustafi Bellerin
Cech
I don’t think it matters who plays tomorrow for Arsenal city will win. It goes against my principles to say it but I can’t see any other result. With wenger in charge we are doomed. No foresight, no charisma, no umph, no guts, no trophies. I sick to my onions with thon wenger.
……………..Cech
koscielny ..holding…gibbs
Xhaka ..Coquelin .Ox .iwobi
……………..Ozil
……..Walcott ….Alexis
I love this formation but I’ll rather have it this way;
………………..Cech…………………….
….Gab…Koscielny…Holding….
Ox…Xhaka…Ramsey… Gibbs
….,………..Ozil………………
……Sanchez…Welbz…………
………….Cech…………………
….Holding..Kos…..Gabs…….
Bell…Ramsey…Xhaka….Gibbs..
……………Ox………………….
……Sanchez….Ozil……………
Sorry Arsenal girl can’t see that team winning I hope I’m wrong.
Giroud
Alexis theo Ozil
Chamberlain Xhaka Ramsey Monreal
Holding Koscienly Gabriel
Cech
Cech
Gabriel Koscielny Holding
Bellerin Coquelin Elneny Gibbs
Walcott Alexis Ox
Please no Ozil and Xhaka, just no!
The chance Ozil doesn’t play tomorrow is like Wenger getting sacked before tomorrow’s game
The fact that Walcott appears as an automatic starter in these line ups tells me how utterly mediocre we have become …. Obviously we can win even if city dominate as Chelsea have shown … Both defences have big weaknesses but city are more direct going forward which in end will probably tell esp on wembley pitch
Walcott is a man for the big occasion. I want him to start.
No just a crap player with the ocassional good games … The big game tag is just another silly myth perpetuated by the frog-whippet nexus of 4th place junkies … The guy is the most overrated player in EPL and his holding down a regular place is indicative of the sorry state of the team …
cech
gabriel holding mustafi koscienly
bellerin jenkinson debuchy monreal
giroud gibbs
Ha ha
Cech
Mustafi Kos Holding
Bellerin Gabriel Coquelin Monreal
Debuchy Gibbs
Sanchez
an even better line up
cech
holding mertesacker koscienly mustafi
gabriel jenkinson debuchy monreal
bellerin gibbs
This is the only lineup that will avoid humiliation tommorow
Sanchez is our best defender
U r not as funny as u think u r
Cech
Holding Koscielny Monreal
Bellerin Ramsey Xhaka Ozil Ox
Sanchez
Giroud