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Official Arsenal XI and preview for Bayern in Munich

As if Arsenal needed anything else to go against us as we prepare to face the German champions Bayern Munich on their own turf thanks to another typically hard draw for the Gunners, but the bit of hope that we had been given with the news of Xabi Alonso picking up an injury has been snuffed out.

Whether it was just a con all along we do not know but the Spaniard starts today, while our own injury blow was clearly true because Lucas Perez is not even in the matchday squad. That was not one of the major issues going into this massive game though, but it certainly does not help us.

The big questions ahead of this game were about Mesut Ozil, who does start despite his poor recent form, and the attacking line-up. Arsene Wenger has decided to stick with the same old same old and I think he may have missed a trick as I would love to have seen Danny Welbeck given a run out, but the only real surprise for me is Gibbs starting ahead of Monreal.

Ospina
Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Gibbs
Xhaka, Coquelin, Oxlade-Chamberlain
Ozil, Iwobi, Alexis Sanchez

Subs: Cech, Gabriel, Monreal, Elneny, Walcott, Welbeck, Giroud.

I do hope that the team picked by Wenger plays well and at least keeps us in the hunt for the home leg but I believe that Wenger has picked the team that Bayern would expect and I expect it to be another tough night for Arsenal. Can they prove me wrong?

Bob.

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213 Comments

  1. I hope Wenger is not a gambler.
    Ozil for once should have taken a leave.
    I had wanted to see Welbeck. The guy is good in big games.
    But I still hope for the (win) best.

      1. i take it back

        why do i lie to myself before every game

        GROUNDHOG SEASON IS BACK!!!!!

        same time nxt year lads? i thnk so

        wenger please summer u know what to do

  2. I was expecting Xhaka Ox Ozil in the middle while Welbeck Sanchez Iwobi up front. I hope we get positive results tonight. COYG

  3. I understand Wenger picking the OX. However the OX’s recent performances have come from the middle not the wings. Theo still remains a better option out wide than the OX at the moment.

    1. Spot on. This is such a frustrating tendency that Wenger has – a player starts getting in a vein of good form in a certain role and then gets shoe-horned into another position just to keep them on the pitch. Ramsey is the poster child of this nonsense.

  4. Ox plays amazing as CM in the past 3 games..Lets play him as RW! Genius.. Mostly worried about Xhaka and a little iffy about Ozil, let’s pray it all works out

      1. Ox’s aggression and tackling ability compared is why him not Theo. I had Ox in the wing on my prediction too, between him and Welbeck I felt. Welbz doesn’t have the game time under belt. I think it’s a straight 442.

  6. Hopefully every player will have the best game of the season.

    I would have played Walcott and/or Danny but hopefully we can at the very least stop bayern from scoring (heavily at least)

    COYG bring us some cheer

  8. Not bad lol
    The defence looks good, Gibbs has more pace than Monreal.
    We have Two potential nutters in DM ??
    Iwobi and the Ox attacking the wings with pace and trickery ?
    All we need is Ozil to turn up and hopefully Sanchez is wearing his rocket boots.
    The subs: Walcott, Welbeck and Giroud could play a significant part if and when Munich get tired of tearing us out a new one. ?

    I’m Looking forward to this?

  9. Anyone remember how OX fluffed that 5 yard chance against Barcelona last year? I do.

    Anyone remember how OX lost the ball against Monaco and Carrasco broke away and made it 3-1? I do.

    Anyone remember how well OX actually played as a CM? I do.

    Anyone remember the last time Iwobi played a great match? I don’t.

    Wenger is so arrogant at proving himself how right he was.

  10. The Xhaka coquelin combo doesn’t work. Xhaka sits and tries to dictate from deep, forcing coquelin to play in a more advanced role offensively. That is not his strong suit. Therefore every team centrally can just shadow Mesut – a la Kante – and just nullify him every time he gets the ball, because no one else is going to break them down centrally. Another reason we miss Santi so much, because with his individual technical ability you can’t leave half a guy on him because 1.5 guys are shadowing mesut.
    This would have been a good game to have the youth and industry of coquelin and the ox centrally to pressure and hurry an aging Arturo Vidal and Xabi Alonso.
    Just don’t see us getting a result tonight, but I’ll be cheering for us to do so!!!

  12. Not a fan of the lineup. Iwobi has been average for over a month, Ox has had his best games in midfield, and Ozil has been our worst starter for much of the season. Once again Wenger has put his faith in players that routinely let him down. He drops Monreal easily, but won’t do the same for his favorites of course. Going to be a long night, hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

  14. Shall we just see how they line up before making assumptions and complaining about where some players are playing.

  18. Iwobi is a bit lazy, Ox- is very good when playing in midfield position. I wanted to see the ox and coq on the middle, walcot and welbeck on the wings with sanchez operating to the striking role.

  20. Lucas Perez looked very annoyed coming off the pitch on Saturday – this injury doesn’t ring true. Why on earth Wenger is refusing to start our most talented forwards in Welbeck and Perez is beyond me, as they are surely the key to success. Still – not to worry, Sanogo is returning….

      1. Do I need to be? Perez gets brought on for the last 8 minutes, would’ve scored a goal, had it not been hand balled away by a hull defender, looked more dangerous and committed than Walcott did in 70 minutes, changed the complexion of the game and he wasn’t fit to start that game????? You don’t need to a physio to tell that, you just need a pair of eyes.

        1. @gmv8
          The only pair of eyes you have, are glued to your computer screen. So, when you become a “real physio” working for AFC, then you’re just blabbering junk to get “up thumbs”…

  21. The only improment to the lineup is the defence. Other areas remain constant. would have preferred wellbeck scarring on right wing.

  22. The only improment to the lineup is the defence. Other areas remain constant. would have preferred wellbeck starting on right wing.

    1. At least is tackling.. LeCoq ball watching as usual and letting Robben to drift inside so easy to have shot..here we go 1-0 down with just 10 mins

  28. Wtf does iwobi do … Should b in championship not cl … Can’t tackle can’t press can’t position .., welbeck is an international for gods sake played against this level

  31. Wenger is playing it safe by not benching Ozil because if we lose then it is just a tough away trip but if he was on the bench and we won it will show that we are better off without his butt boy.

  32. Coquelin movement was EXACTLY the opposite of what he should have done.

    And he’s lost every tackle so far…

  35. We are mentally weak. And its all Wenger’s problem. I wonder what happened to Coquelin, he used to be a tough guy! The only tough guy is careless…Ozil wont even jog!

  38. How comfortable bayern plays with dynamic..everyone moving and this is something we do not have any idea. 72% possession already I just hope it is not 4 or 5.

      1. Somebody else…Alexis has looked like missing last few he;s taken.
        Giroud if he comes on (not that we’ll get another anyway!)

        1. who is somebody else? Has anyone else even taken a penalty for us that is on the pitch right now besides Ozil, who is horrific at them? Alexis handles pressure better than the rest of the team. Why are we complaining about Alexis right now when in the end he did his job and scored??

                1. You’re getting upset over nothing, stop behaving like a child. This hostility has come out of nowhere, and honestly, I’m not very interested in arguing with someone with such a short fuse.

  52. Wengers plan was always going to be try and hold out and counter and nick one with walcott perez welbeck later on.

    1. Took the words right out of my mouth. He hasn’t done anything in OFFENSE NOR DEFENSE.

      Bring in Welbeck ASAP. We needs his stamina.

  59. Counter will get better later in the game when we bring on Welbeck or Walcott. Just need to survive until then, especially with the goal away.

  60. How old is that @@#@ Robben? ?
    He must be on crack ? or something, his still playing like his19 years old and still scoring against us since his Chelsea days.The cheating @@##

    2. Our defense makes any decent attacking player look like f****** Messi. They are like a small kids running away from white wash from the sea.

  61. Anyone else having flashbacks to our game at PSG earlier this campaign? Strap in, it’s gonna be a helluva second half.

  64. I don’t believe Arsene has sent us out properly, and that Bayern will score at least 2 more. Vidal and Xabi Alonso are able to get on the ball entirely too easily and dictate the game. Wenger has Xhaka and le Coq sitting too deep. Then Thiago is just drifting between the lines uncontested. Instead of having mesut pressure the CBs, let’s cut the supply to their DMs and not let them dictate the game and enter our attacking 3rd so easily.

    We need another goal in this game.

    1. You’re correct. We are dropping too deep. Our midfield needs to pressurise them more in the center of the pitch. But this Wenger’s instruction and not the fault of coq or xhaka.

      1. I disagree when we pushed our defensive line up immediately after they scored they broke our offside trap at least 3times and we reverted immediately. But now we are pressing more as a unit and making sure they find no space in the hole (btw CB &DM) . Hopefully welbeck comes on and nicks a second

        1. So your disagreement is based off of one occurrence in the game, and not what the entire balance of the half has shown you? hmmmm

    1. You sh****ng me? we have been dismal. It should have been 4 – 1 to Bayern already. Lewa missed two sitters. You have to admit we were lucky to get a penalty, and they were unlucky not to.

      1. No im not haha, i won’t say dismal but we are playing Bayern away, i obviously want more but i can’t complain a lot about our performance so far. We came here to dig in and knick in goals when we could. The penalty was a definively one and theirs wasn’t because it was clear ball to hand, nothing shady about that

        1. On any other day, we would have conceded a penalty. Digging only helps if you actually DIG IN. What I’m seeing is no midfield, us being completely outplayed and outclassed. Our players just are not on the same level as Bayern and any other top team for that matter. Having a spineless manager on top of it doesn’t help. What was Mustafi actually doing there? Lewa beats him to the ball BEHIND him and Lewa is also shorter?

  67. Good shift put in for the 1st half. But the energy is still not enough. These are professional footballers and I expect that they can easily work much harder than they’re currently.
    Ozil is the weakest of them all when we defend, but I suppose he’s not there for that. But then what other choice we got???

  69. We are simply not working hard enough off and on the ball. Iwobi and Xhaka have been invisible. We have no midfield.

    1. yeah didn’t notice at first but he’s just standing around as usual as Robben terrorizes Coquelin & co. Ozil needed to press and crowd Robben out instead did nothing. Coquelin though… playing directly into Robben’s hands. Arsenal players need to work harder. Bayern will keep creating half chances until one goes in.

  72. You can definitely smell a red card or two coming up in the second half.
    It’s a shame that our finishing wasn’t up to scratch in the first half. We should have been in front at the break.
    Hope that we are still in it by the time Wenger makes his subs.

  74. You’ve gotta love the Arsenal. No team can make it’s fans do a complete 180 quite like the Arsenal, give em hell lads. Come on you GUNNERS!

  87. He’s bringing Elneney..Lahmn 31 years old veteran running riot and our players garbage as it best. Do the bloody changes now..go for another goal at least.

  88. Surprice, surprice.
    2 goals in 5 minutes, and what is the problem?
    Iwobi and Ox switch off completely defensively.
    Same f…..k problem, always. They haven’t been taught to defend, and in general our defensive organization is all over the place again, especially in midfield.

      1. This. A good team can take a setback like an injury to their top defender and successfully adapt. We fold.

  98. SEASON OVER

    SEASON OVER!!

    SEASON OVER!!!

    …SEASON EFFING OVER

    WENGER IN THE SUMMER PLEASE LEAVE JUST GO

    1. it was over a lonnnggg time ago. It all depends on if Wenger can trick fans again by getting top 4 trophy. His world continues to fall apart though, especially this result. The fact the scoreline is so bad gives him no defense.

  99. Same old arsenal. No guts in this team at all, only names. Tie is over. I told you to drop ozil and I get thumbed down like I’m saying something horrendous. Ozil doesn’t give two $hits about this club, give him the bench for the next little while please.

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