No Walcott! So what WILL Arsenal front line be?

He may be playing a bit of mind games, and it would be a first time for the Arsenal manager, but Arsene Wenger has all but stated that he would not be starting Theo Walcott against Swansea City later. And when you consider how careful the Frenchman has been with his fit again front man so far, then he is probably not going to risk Theo from the start.

In that case, how do you think Arsenal should line up in attack? We could go with a 4-4-2 formation with Alexis and Welbeck. The Chilean has done brilliantly in a more central role and Wenger might want to keep him there. With Swansea good in possession though and in good form, there is a danger of getting outnumbered in midfield. But if any two forwards were going to work hard enough and defend from the front, the Arsenal duo are the ones you would want.

Assuming that Wenger is a bit more cautious and plays Welbeck more as a lone man, you are then looking at Alexis plus two behind him. I would have to go with the Ox on current form and play him on the right with Cazorla on the left. Our little Spaniard also seems to be finding form and when he does he can be a massive player for Arsenal.

The concern there is the chance of our left side being a bit exposed and the central midfielders would have to watch out for that. We could put the Oz on the left, Alexis right and Santi through the middle, which would threaten real pace all across the pitch but would reduce the presence of our Chilean star.

How would you line Arsenal up Gooners?

Tags Alexis Cazorla ox welbeck

19 Comments

    1. The reason our defence is a problem is because too many of our defenders play far too high up the pitch and are totally exposed on a counter attack. Chelse defenders are hard to break down because they more or less retain their positions. When was the last time Cahill was seen tearing down the wing ? He only goes forward for set pieces.
      A typical example is Liverpool last season whenthey tore us to pieces because our defenders were left marooned in the Liverpool half, leaving their attacking forwards with men over. Same against Anderlecht.

    2. That in a Nutshell, is our biggest problem! WE have a great set of attacking, goal getting guy’s.They are amongst the best in the EPL!! We all kmow, or at least, we think we do? What is wrong, THE DEFENSE. What do we need?( 1 ) A reliable, great Keeperr.(2) 2 strong, big, Backs.(3) A strong, reliabe, Holding mid-Fielder.(4) A stromg, reliable, defensive, Mid-Fielder. 5 players in January, is that to much to expect? 12, roughly, games before the end of the transfer window in Jan?Amongst them, if we play like Sun, and mid-week,8 games we will be hard pressed to win! 24 points we will be lucky to get.5th, 6th, 7th,? That is on the cards Pessimist, or not.

  1. No surprise the Walcott is not starting. I have been telling people since August, don’t expect much from him before December of January. It will take time to get back in form. Look at Ramsey now after a much shorter absence.

    Lineup? Wenger never changes anything. Arteta is out so Flamini replaces him. Wilshere automatically plays so Ramsey, Ox or Carzola gets replaced. Ox is in the best form of the three so, using Wenger logic, my money is on Ox to be on be the bench.

  2. Arsenal need two powerful and right footed central defenders to partner Kosn, for me Mertesacker is very slow to play in the EPL particularly in the big four and this is the reason why Kos often commits fouls, he has to run for every ball behind and tries to compensate the speed of Mertesacker. The only strong central defenders we have are Kos and Chambers but with the injuries of our fullbacks we can’t bank on them. Why not sign Vlaar on January??

  3. Some fans want Giroud back. I really dont know how it works out. Alexis is very good at passing at the final third and he wants Welbeck run at it. Welbeck often gets at the ball. We have seen Alexis gets frustrated when Welbeck fails to make runs or time the run badly. Now, look at the situation when Giroud returns..Alexis haven’t played with Giroud a lot, he can’t make such passes to him and he will get frustrated and Wenger will ask him to change his style of play to suit Giroud. I bet Wenger do such a thing. Alexis is in superb form now, I’m really worried what’s gonna happen because without where we would be!!

    I don’t know what Giroud offers. He can’t dribble, no pace at all, can’t shoot from distance. Again, his shooting is absolutely pathetic. He can only do tap-ins, hold-up play(ha ha). Only thing I like is his passing, which isn’t the duty of striker, we have good passers and don’t want our strikers to do that.

    1. giroud shoots from distance more than welbeck he has a decent powerfull shot !!!
      also he will play sanchez in on goal more so i dought he will be that upset

      1. Can you remind me of 1 single goal your giroud had scored in an arsenal shirt from outside the box.
        I will tell you
        0000000000000000.00000000

        A big fat zero with babies

    2. The same arsenal fans who think giroud is world class are the same shouting wenger out.
      Giroud ( a 14 goal per season ) personifies what the arsenal team has become.
      Mediocre .
      Despite all the good qualities of our young players . The fact remains that the likes of Ox , chambers , wilshere and bullerin should not be starting for a club like arsenal ; apart from cameo appearances.
      I will also say that there shouldn’t be more than 2 young players in the first 22 at any point in a season.
      Our rivals in the elite European clubs don’t do that.

  4. Give a rest to Welbeck today, play Poldi or Campbell. It will surprise Swansea. They will be like what the hell..!! how could Wenger changed his team???

    1. Great idea. But Campbell won’t even be in the squad (Sanogo, the favored son will be). I’ll eat my hat (with pleasure) if Wenger starts Poldi. Squad rotation, giving a tired player a rest and trying new things (except when injury forces your hand)? This is Wenger we are talking about. He never does any of the foregoing.

  5. i hate it when its time to take a corner kick and all we find is Mertasacker jogging into d opposition’s 18yrd box….. Its not like he’s relevant thr or can score a thing…..and then it leaves me scared to think…. We could concede two goals in one minute even before he struggles to run back 2 our defence…. The manager gotta talk sense into him…….oh wait!…..we have a voiceless manager even ….. BTW: other teams are praying to have their injured key stars back on the pitch in time so they could pick up form… But its only at Arsenal dat a player would be out for abt 6months, returns to training 8months Later and join d 1st team 4months later… Who exactly is wenger reserving walcott for? ….

    1. And we always get to hear from Doctor Wenger the injured player is not ready, lacks match fitness, and will take another two months to get back to his best.

  6. Our defence line against Swansea today should be Bellerin on right, Chambers and Mert in the middle and Giggs on the left side, but knowing old deluded Wenger he won´t do that. Chambers was brilliant in the center of defence at the start of the season, so why put him on the right side, ´cause he has played poorly at there in recent games. Also Kos is out at least for a month so thanks Wenger that you did not replace Verminator, we could have Song back in that same deal and look how he has done in West Ham and can play also in middle of defence. He is more defensive and 100% better than Arteta&Flamini together, they are dead wood and Wenger is so stupid that he is going to offer Arteta a new 1 year deal, can´t understant that at all.

  7. Until per finds his running shoes and monreal works out how to cover his ar*e lets play 6 across the back 🙂 per can just stand on the goal lineor edge ofof the box. Just kidding 🙁 seriously we cannot afford our rb and lb to go wondering too much today well expose the back if they go then one at a time. I’d like us to keep a tight formation at the back today, draw then out and counter via the odd long pass through welbeck and sanchez. Problem is its not really our style and wenger plays the same way every game 🙁

  8. Wellbeck definitely needs a rest. Would like to see poldi but it wont happen. We’re so ineffective from corners/set pieces and with per taking a stroll back every time it leaves us incredibly vulnerable, would like to see our defence retain its shape more at times. Win today, 3 points.
    COYG

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