Predicted lineup of Arsenal ahead of FA Cup tie against Nottingham
Arsenal will travel to East Midlands to face Championship side Nottingham Forest in the third round of FA Cup this weekend.
The Gunners, who last laid their hands on the illustrious trophy in 2020, went out in the fourth-round last season.
With no European football, Mikel Arteta would be looking to add another FA Cup glory to his CV.
The tie against Steve Cooper’s men will not be a straightforward one. In the end, it’s a team which is fighting for a play-off position in the Championship.
With footballing action about to liven up as we head into the second week of January, Arteta needs to get a good balance of first team and squad players.
Here’s the lineup I would go with:
In goal, it will be Bernd Leno. The German hasn’t put a foot wrong in the EFL matches and thus his inclusion will make total sense.
Many Arsenal fans forget that the major problem of the 29-year-old isn’t his saving ability but his distribution. But we can obviously field him in FA Cup matches.
We also can’t let his market value drop to almost nothing by picking Aaron Ramsdale in every game.
Moving on, I would like to see a back four of Cedric, Rob Holding, Calum Chambers and Nuno Tavares. I think they have enough quality to shut out the strikers of Nottingham.
Midfield is where it gets interesting. Will Arteta take a gamble by starting both of Granit Xhaka and Albert Sambi Lokonga? Especially when Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny have left for AFCON, while Ainsley Maitland-Niles has moved to Rome?
Picking up a naïve 18-year-old in Charlie Patino can also backfire.
It will be a tricky one for the manager. He can also go with a midfield three of Xhaka, Martin Odegaard and Emile Smith Rowe. Five subs being legal also helps Arteta’s cause to a great extent.
But for the time being, I think he’ll stick with Xhaka and Lokonga.
The three players that I want to see in front of them is Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli.
Smith Rowe has not seen much football action in the past month. Thus, this is a great opportunity to sharpen his skills.
Although you’ll argue that the Englishman has continued to look superb, giving him minutes from the get-go instead of Odegaard, who has played plenty of football in December, seems rational.
With Pepe out to AFCON too (you might have forgot about this), Arteta will have a thin choice of wingers. Starting Saka and then bringing in a young gun would seem a clever decision.
On the other side of the pitch, Martinelli has continued to impress since his regular inclusion in the first team. He has been one of the better performers since captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was displaced from the team.
The front man should definitely be Eddie Nketiah. Folarin Balogun is on the verge of joining Middleborough, whereas Alexander Lacazette is better rested for next week’s tie against Liverpool.
…
This will be my starting lineup for the upcoming FA Cup tie. I want the team to go into the latter stages of the tournament, especially after we didn’t qualify for Europe.
Having hands around either of EFL Cup or FA Cup would be an amazing achievement. It can become exceptional if the Gunners qualify for the Champions League, on top of that.
THE JUST ARSENAL SHOW – Dan Smith discusses the fallout from Auba’s argument with Arteta