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Official Arsenal team to face Leeds United in the FA Cup third round

Official Arsenal team – Mikel Arteta has gone with a mixed yet experienced side to face Leeds United.

It was always going to be the case that changes would be made from the team that beat Manchester United but that should not stop Arsenal qualifying for the next round.

Arteta has to find the right balancing act between resting players for the Premier League and not putting out a team that will get turned over by the championship high flyers.

This line up looks a decent one to me, there is more than enough in the midfield and attack to put a few past the Yorkshiremen.

Links to streams will be put in the comments where to watch the game live and free so keep checking in.

This game is also live on the BBC for those living in the UK or with access to a VPN

Also, if you go to Arsenal.com you will be able to get live commentary text and Arsenal radio.

JustArsenal match preview here

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93 Comments

  2. I see Ozil,Lacazette & Pepe as big risks tho.
    These guys had a tough Dec. They should be getting more rest after knowing how hard everyone is working now.
    Anything but a win with this line up will be unacceptable

  3. Emery’s 3-4-1-2?

    ……………. Martinez
    …… Holding . Sokratis . Luiz
    Nelson . Guendouzi . Xhaka . Kolasinac
    …………….. Ozil
    ……….. Pepe …….. Lacazette

    It would interesting if Arteta chooses this formation

  4. I think this is a 3-5-2 formation if i am not mistaken.
    Wow.. didn’t predict this.
    Decent lineup
    COYG

    1. Holding at RB?
      I highly doubt that.
      It would be a surprise if that’s the case, cos he hardly has the pace for that position

    2. According to TheScore, it’s 3 4 1 2, but as they say, there’s only 2 or 3 meters between 3 5 2 and 3 4 1 2

  6. I’m just after reading Aubameyang saying “how he loves this club and how he wants to help bring it back to where it belongs, at the top. After all the media BS about Auba, you’d think they would’ve happily ran with this story and put things straight, seeing as it’s coming from the man himself. Good man Auba, top, top player, a true professional.

    1. Break-on-through, this is the media BS that TMJW so rightly condemns.

      It’s good news for The Arsenal, so why feature it?

  8. Interesting bench as well, it looks as if martinelli, cebs and mavs are just about ready to boost the first team squad selection.
    With Holding being selected to play, the only downside is the continued absence of Bellerin from those who I thought were nearly back to full fitness.
    The other question being, who is captain tonight? A gamble with xhaka perhaps?
    Love to see Ozil playing game after game at long last, along with pepe and lacs given more playing time – positive line up COYGs.

  9. A team list was published and we all jump to conclusions re formation just because Kola’s name was not under the first 5. On reflection, I believe that we will see a 4-3-1-2 with Holding at RB and Kola at LB. Mikel will NOT fool around with formations this early in his tenure, at least not 3 at the back and such a defensive formation at home to a Championship side? But I am willing to be proved wrong.

    1. I guess you know better than the Arsenal Official website that states Holding as part of a 3 man backline.
      When have you seen Holding at RB?

  12. How much proof does arteta need to recognize that guendhouzi and xhaka are a sub championship combination .,. Just sell the joker

  14. The Guardian commentary on line:

    “Xhaka goes on a sensational 60-yard run down the left wing. He then tries to release Ozil into the box, but in attempting a slide-rule pass, punts clumsily out for a goal kick. That’s like walking a couple of miles home with the house keys, to let your locked-out family in, only to drop them down the drain in front of the porch”.

    That is pretty good…

  18. What I have seen so far, we’re in for a long night.
    Our players too slow and holding so long to ball with misplaced passes

  19. Xhaka is so bad so far. Pulling shirts and causing needless fouls. Leeds are well drilled, they’ve controlled the game so far forcing Martinez to make at 3 saves.

  21. I’m all for playing possession football but Arteta needs to realise to play out from defence you need talented players that can control the ball something we have very little of.

    1. Which team is championship here ? Nothing is just clicking at all…
      We just can’t play
      Hope y’all have seen that man United was just very bad the other day

  24. Pepe decision making leaves a lot to be desired while Lacazette is sluggish on the ball. Nelson needs to spend at least 2 seasons on loan in the Championship as he’s too weak to get past his marker. I always have the feeling that he’s not gonna make a good delivery whenever he has the opportunity to deliver a cross or cut back from the byline.

  26. Leeds teaching arsenal how to play soccer…emery is in the bench again…or was just man utd too bad?

  27. I can’t believe we’re not a goal down
    Very disappointing start – very poor
    A lot for Arteta to think about

    1. Xhaka. Arteta is on DMT. Xhaka is slower than a tortoise. Nelson is not playing for us. Luiz is lost. Holding should not be out there. Lacazette????? Ozil?????

  28. Let’s not forget the highly revered Marco Bielsa is their coach. It’s evident they are well drilled and are top of Championship for a reason.

    1. At some point I thought we were playing man city…
      Pepe too is playing rubbish…slow ,holding the ball too much ….They ve got to wake up o…

    1. I agree laca is not doing well but he is coming into midfield to pick up the ball because ozil has gone AWOL again.

      1. This is nonsense. Laca is one of the few who is really trying to make things happen. The rest of the forward line has been nonexistent.

  31. The players are poor because they are tired much st of our players are too fragile and that has been the problem for too long.
    That man united match took alot from them

  32. How the fcuk can u play decent football with a fragile defense and no midfield creativity … if the greedy yank isnt willing to release funds he and his money grubbbng progeny should disappear back up trump’s ar***

  34. Ozil has 9 touches so far (fewest on the pitch). It’s no fault of his as Leeds have kept our defenders and midfield defending all day. Sokratis has been run ragged by Leeds attackers.

    Arteta has to tweak the formation and make some tactical changes by half time. I must confess that Leeds are so good to watch

  36. Surely arteta has to demand funds to bring in at least one quality defender and a midfield creator … doesn’t matter what attackers u have with no service u can’t do anything

  37. This team is really useless.. ozil xhaka nelson needs to be sold asap….arteta needs change the 4mation asap..

  38. laca is a shocking fraud, he is going down every game and nobody touching him. he is a total fraud, and he should be benched, i hate cheats.

  39. Leeds are not afraid of Arsenal at all and implemented high pressing very well. Without Maitland-Niles and Torreira, Arsenal are struggling to release themselves from Leeds’ heavy pressure

    As the result, Leeds won the ball possession. But they will run out of gas in the second half if they keep their high intensity, so Arsenal could hit them after seventy minutes

    Pepe’s physical presence helped and he would just need less pressure to shoot. No 10 player is useless when Leeds press high up the pitch like Liverpool, so Ozil has to be more aggressive and faster

  41. No heart no stamina no drive no passion no strength no leadership.
    Been the tale of arsenal for well over a decade

  43. Not a fan of ozil, but I haven’t seen anything he has done bad, combination of Xhaka ND Guendozi can’t work, they misplaced pass ND never protect the defense, too many loose pass, none of which has gotten to ozil

    Holding should have played RB instead of Socratis, Him ND Luiz are familiar with themselves

    1. yeah was a strange one, can’t see Sokratis outside, he is slow. Hopefully they will adjust at half…

  44. Whiners crawling from the woodwork I see! What some dumbheads fail to realize is that major injuries forced arteta to tweak his preferred formation/tactics. Everyone seems so out of place with the current formation, and they should be TBH. I will stand by the team in this difficult moment, this is not how Arteta wants us to play, but we have to look at current injuries and their impact on overall formation.

    1. but you have to admit that Sokratis on the wing is pretty weird, even with a lot of injuries. They have started better in second half.

  46. We are playing a lot better now, causing them to make a lot of mistakes and having a number of shots on target.

  53. Guendouzi has been phenomenal in the second half, holding on to the ball well and distributing quickly. Xhaka has been mediocre so far!

  57. We’ve been lucky with the refereeing thus far. Leeds player gets booked for the same cynical foul that Xhaka has been commiting so far in this game.

    Martinelli come on for Nelson.

  59. Get ffing xhaka off … he’s frightened of receiving ball at back so we have no midfield option to build play … it’s ffing obvious shocked that arteta can see it

  63. We are playing well this second half. Why cant our fans be patient. Who are so used to complains that we dont even k ow when not to complain… Give this guys a break. They are adjusting to a new pattern…

  65. Martinelli has world class potential. He’s made some terrific attempt at scoring after coming on shortly.

  66. Nothing is stupid about this substitution. This is the perfect game to build wilocks confidence with little minutes remaining and mesut needs to rest for crystal palace.

    Substitution is spot on

    1. He just came back from injury and still playing Emery ball. Perhaps he has noticed there is already a new manager.

  68. Holding has been making a string of misplaced passes all through the game, but it’s understandable as he is been out for over a month after recovering from his knee injury.

  69. Xhaka holding on to ball, what’s wrong with this guy. Just release the ball and be free.
    It’s not as if he has stamina either

  72. Guendouzi is so skilled at winning fouls. I guess 2 instructions for the second half from Arteta for our players are to ‘get stuck in’ and ‘play to win fouls’. We’ve won so many fouls in the second half and our players have controlled the game admirably well.

    1. Not the conventional refereeing Arsenal gets. He falls way too easily. On another day, the ref would have ignored him to our detriment

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