Official Arsenal team to face Rapid Wien – Lacazette and Nketiah together

Arsenal will be looking for their fifth straight Europa League win when they go up against Austrian outfit Rapid Wien at the Emirates this evening.

The Europa League has been a welcome relief from the struggles of the Premier League and that should continue this evening.

Fans will also be allowed in for the first time in nearly nine months, albeit just 2000 at this stage.

Anyway, this is the team that Mikel Arteta has chosen to pick up win number five.

What do you think to the team that Mikel Arteta has selected? Are you happy with the youngsters he has picked? Who would you change in that line-up?

Leave us your comments below and maybe predict the score at the same time.

Also, if you go to the official Arsenal website here you will be able to get live commentary text and radio.

JustArsenal predicted Arsenal team (for comparison) here
JustArsenal match preview here

Tags Arsenal v Rapid Wien

147 Comments

  1. Lacazette didn’t play well as a CAM, but let’s see what will happen this time. I just hope Aubameyang wouldn’t play as a CF anymore with Willock behind him

    1. A good game to try and take some confidence into Sunday 3-1 win for me but I would take a morale boosting performance.

      1. A distinct improvement in pace, passing, attacking and general all round play. Arsenal have their mojo back tonight. Well done boys, enjoy the rest of the game.

    2. I don’t think he is playing as a cam more of second striker. The 4411 formation that was the catalyst of many successful arsenal sides. Whether it was parlour ljungberg overmars or pires on the flanks we always had a 2nd striker just being the centre forward.

      This current side has aubameyang, lacazette, nketiah, martinelli, balaogun and ESR that could all thrive in those positions.

  2. ESR and Balogun benched – sigh…..
    No Martinelli – Declan, best you get yourself some antibiotics ๐Ÿ˜œ

    COYG

    1. Canโ€™t understand why ESR canโ€™t get a game in these Europa matches, how is the kid supposed to get any confidence.

    2. Lovely to see some fans back at last and a nice confident speculative strike from Laca, what’s the chance we can actually make the Emirates shake when its finally full again.
      Got to get rid of the Library tag we carry!

  3. Yes i am fairly happy and comfortable with the team selection – noting the venue and opposition. I do hope for a clinical performance (at least a 4 or 5 goals put to the opposition whilst keeping a clean sheet.

  4. No Willian which means he will start against the spurs. Why can’t we start Balogun and smith rowe in this match at least we’ve already qualified.

  5. Complete lack of creativity again. … I hope playing nketiah is solely about putting him in the window for possible sale in January … the idea that he is arsenal quality …even second string … is delusional

  6. Pleased to see AMN and Elneny in DM as I suggested at 4.25pm.If Laca does not shine as a number ten against moderate opposition ,is he drinking at the last chance saloon?

  7. I can’t believe that Arteta is resting Xhaka for Weekend while playing MO and A. M. N. I was waiting to see Xhaka and Ceballos here so that he could field A.M.N along Mo for the weekend. At this point, I give up on Arteta, I really can’t see him taking us to the promise land. He’s too stubborn to admit his wrong.

  8. Seems Lacazette and Nketia have found their level. Bellerin should be starting this match as this is his level.
    Tonight’s result is meaningless as the team will still file out with Willian, Bellerin, Leno, Xhaka, Holding, Aubameyang and Tierney, players who have no clue on how to progress the ball to opponent’s goal. Who can’t make a simple forward pass or carry the ball to opponent’s half.

    1. Funny how you’d have Bellerin as the first name on this list. I’ve been watching games, and he appears to be the only one who knows how to get the ball into the opposition box.

      1. 80% of his passes are to Holding, Gabriel and Leno. What about his primary responsibility- to defend? Do you know how many goals we’ve conceded due to his lapse in concentration?

        1. I’d need statistical proof of that figure. However, that aside, even with 80% back passes like you say, he still manages to play at least one key pass a game. I’m not going to say you are wrong, because I haven’t actually checked out that stat. I’m however going to doubt it, because from the part of the pitch in which he spends most of the game, it would be very difficult for him to pass to either of those two. I feel like , his biggest pass combo must be with a defensive midfielder because that’s how the team sets up to pass. Not gonna argue with figures though because I’m just using memory.

  9. I hope he’s resting them both (Balogun and E.S.R) for the weekend. I’m tired of seeing the likes of Nketiah, Laca, Willian, Xhaka, Ceballos in our PL line up.

  10. Hope we continue our good Europa League form with a win.
    Pretty good formation he has out tonight. Letโ€™s see how they perform.

    Lacazette should score to gain some confidence.

    Looking forward to Niles play in Central midfield after a long time.

    Elneny needs a competitive running before being played against Spurs.

    Nketiah,

    Nelson, Lacazette, Pepe,

    Niles, Elneny,

    Kolasinac, Mari, Mustafi, Cedric,

    Runarsson.

    I would love to see Balogun, Smith-Rowe, Willock play in the second half.

    Line up against Tottenham might be like this.

  11. Dan Critchlow (Daily Cannon) has just tweeted ‘9 months later’ with a picture from the stadium. I’m a little jealous ๐Ÿ˜„

  12. I can hear Ooh to be and Red Army ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜ Oh as well as what do you think of Tottenham… love it

  13. One of the last games for Arteta then bec I don’t think he will survive after the weekend against spurs. I hope the fans don’t hype him up again n start putting out the useless friendly game score lines when Arsenal win this game. It is seems to be the way now for some of fans here you win against weak third division teams n all of a sudden their team is best with best manager n best youngsters, calling on the manager to put them in first team. The comes the true test in league n all of a sudden the excuses start to pour in we played one of the best team in world, manager is young but he is destined for greatness n young players are too young then need time to develop when we all know the reality manager is out of his depth and our youngsters academy players apart from Saka are just plain avg…no matter how many chances you give them and they have been provided with a lot they just don’t have the quality to make it to the top level.

    1. Mohsan
      Iโ€™m reading your post at half time after an excellent first half with largely our second team playing really well.

      Tonight Iโ€™m happy to see good football and goals, to not want to stress over what happens on Sunday

      1. Kk thanks Sue.. if he plays then we have a chance of getting at least a point but if he doesn’t then there’s no chance at all cos xhaka is ****

      1. ๐Ÿ™‚ Love it, Icw….๐Ÿ˜‰ I’m sure there’ll be more, keep listening!! We’re on it tonight!!

  14. The change which I noticed was Laca asking for ball most of the time (unfortunately noone was giving), seems he is growing confidence. Nice to see

  15. Ladies, just check back on the reviews regarding Lacs- don’t it make you laugh?!?!

    Just the tonic he needs, top goalscorer with a smile on his face.
    Hope to see ESR and Balogun later๐Ÿ‘

  16. Unpopular option but….i rate Cedric over Bellerin

    Better defender, better crosser and more consistent imo

    1. I do rate cedric, doesnt excel in any particular area but hes fairly solid at everything ๐Ÿ‘

    2. Thing is , everyone keeps saying Cedric and Tierney cross better than Bellerin. When gameday comes, we see Bellerin creating more high value chances than them. I don’t like to put one player down to hype another, but I don’t think we have a better offensive fullback than bellerin. Defensively, I think only Tierney is better.

      1. Yes joe I agree, but with regards to Tierney, give him some time and he will definitely show why he is the best of the three ๐Ÿ‘Œ

        1. I feel like Tierney is the best fullback we have. A fullback defends well and attacks well. However, the only reason I think Tierney is a better fullback than Bellerin is because of how much better he is at defense. In attack, Tierney’s issue is not delivery. It’s ideas. He basically has one really dangerous type of cross. Not such a bad thing, but as has been shown recently, it’s not as effective as it looks. Bellerin edges him on variation. In Bellerin’s arsenal, just this season, we’ve seen through passes,cutbacks,whipped crosses, floated crosses, zero touches , dummy runs and more. He’s just better in the opponents half in a nutshell .

          1. Also sometimes he doesnt get protection from midfield, resulting in two on ones against him. That said, he does seem to have concentration issues sometimes as typified by the foul throws and some of the goals we conceded from his side..

      2. Thank You

        Some People Hate For Absolutely No Reason

        Bellerin Is Close To Excellent On The Attack, I Trust His Squareplays To Be A GoalScoring Chance Almost Everytime

        He’s Not Just Our Best Attacking Fullback, He’s The Best Arsenal Player U Want To See Delivering Into The Box From The Sides

        Yes, Better Than Willian, Pepe, Nelson,Auba …in terms of putting a squareplay into the box

        He’s perfect at that

        He doesn’t excel defensively, but he’s not bad
        Who excels defensively on our SB asides Tierney – absolutely nobody, not even AMN

        So the hate on Bellerin is pure blindness

        1. No one is hating on Bellerin, are people not allowed to have an opinion?

          Last season he was involved in 25 games and got 2 assists…so im not too sure about being the best Arsenal player you want to see delivering into the box.

          1. Last season involved recovery from an injury. Also, I don’t feel like assists are enough of a metric to measure a creative player’s performance. I’m more in favour of the XG created or keypasses. The reason I say that, is sometimes, a creative player will create a clear cut opportunity , but the striker will spurn . On the stat board, there won’t be an assist for the creative , although he would have done his job. The other two put the blame where it should be. With the striker who didn’t score.

            Practical examples offhead with Bello. Last season, second leg against spurs, He put in a proper cutback to Auba leaving him with the seemingly simple task of tapping the ball in, but Auba kicked some fresh air. Then against Leicester, he put in a driven cross that Laca headed straight into the hands of the keeper .
            This season, against leeds, he put Saka through on the keeper, that’s fresh in memory , I know you can remember, against wolves, he put in two accurate crosses . One for Saka, another for Auba, both were missed. I’m sure I just couldn’t remember another opportunity , but what I’ve said so far makes my point. He’s creative.

      1. About time we played like this in the league, Skills, starting on Sunday at the Armitage Shanks stadium ๐Ÿ™‚

  17. Eddie summed up perfectly in that goal….

    Determination, great poacher but lacks the edge which would have had the ball in the goal on the 1st shot

    Passing beautifully though….

  18. Rapid Wien’s level is obviously way below Arsenal’s, but it’s nice too see our B team dominate in EL

  19. The third goal ๐Ÿ‘Œ๐Ÿฝfree flowing passing..why can’t we just produce such display in the league

  20. I’m happy, but not enough to get sunday’s disappointment from me. I hope we use d Spurs game to change our fortune in d EPL. it will be more sweeter use Spurs to start our comeback right guys๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ™‚?

  21. I never saw any of our midfielders giving the defenders back passes.

    1. Xhaka should never start for Arsenal again cos AMN gives us pace, power and always direct.

    2. Willian should never start ahead of Nelson. His link up play with Laca and Pepe is excellent.

    3. Our team B play better than team A.

    4. Laca looks lively in his new position.

    5. MA should select those who deserve and ready to play for Arsenal not names.

    Why can’t we play like this week in week out?
    Ans: cos MA doesn’t select the right players.

  22. Woke up at the right time, and didnt fall back asleep! Some good, crisp, one-touch football there…
    Just hope we can be this fluid in the weekend๐Ÿคž๐Ÿคž

          1. Yup! More of today please ๐Ÿ™ especially in the league and I wont complain.. we are playing some good football today.

  23. How much impact is Laca as a (vocal) captain having on this side?
    Should we think about a more vocal captain in League also?
    Should a mid-fielder or defender be made captain rather than a striker (so as to improve communication as our strikers are mostly alone upfront)?

    This is nothing about Laca or Auba.

  24. This is what we want to see Mikel… attacking, intelligent football…. play like this and the honeymoon period can start again๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ˜€

  25. Nelson with some bad set piece deliveries…also MA was furious with that Pepe miss wasn’t he? It seems he is cracking down on errant finishing.

        1. True sid, AMN in midfield is 10x better than Xhaka.

          Xhaka offers nothing but to put pressure on our defenders with him back passes.

          We MA chooses to go by this one touch football, Xhaka shouldn’t be in the line up cos he slows our transition.

          Excellent performance from the boys.

    1. Sue: Maybe this is a turning point. The boys are playing freely and MA is not barking every second. Amazing how good we can play without being shackled.

      1. Let’s hope, Icw.. just what we needed before Sunday ๐Ÿ™‚ Great team performance, Dani played well ๐Ÿ˜œ

  26. Even though Vienna are weak, the Arsenal team have been strong. The blip at the second half didnโ€™t become an issue.

    The youngsters have been lively and itโ€™s been so refreshing to watch. I hope the 1st team have been watching this. They might worry about getting on the start sheet.

    Confidence is just about everything

        1. Yes definitely something to smile. Lets pray that on Sunday the team comes out with this kind of confidence and self belief.

  27. I would like to see this line up on Sunday.

    Auba
    Nelson Laca Willian
    Elneny AMN
    Tierney. Gabriel. Chambers. Cedric
    Leno

  28. A good game.
    We have too many central defenders. Saliba,Holding, Luiz, Chambers, Mustafi,Socratis, Saliba,Gabriel and Mavropanus. That is 9 central defenders. We need to sell 3 out of those. Socratis, Mustafi and Mavropanus(with an option to buy back) should be sold.

  29. Rapid Wien looked every inch tougher than Molde, but our boys were 100% ready for them.
    It’s been a long time I’ve seen this type of serious display Arsenal players. Long may it continue – congrats to everyone for the win.
    And Pablo Mari? Welcome back. Now I realized he looks every bit like Giroud – and he has Giroud’s left leg and knows how to use the head too.

  30. Dont know really, lol. I think if Chambers is fit then he is a great shout. But I also think it is going to be Rob Holding on sunday.

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