Official team and preview for Arsenal at Chelsea – No Giroud or Welbeck

Most people agree that, for Arsenal at least, it is win or bust today. Beat Chelsea and there is still a chance that Arsenal could catch and challenge the current Premier League leaders for the title. Lose or even draw and that hope would be little more than blind optimism.

Unfortunately for Arsene Wenger his selection options in central midfield have suddenly disappeared at the worst possible time, so with Cazorla, Xhaka, Ramsey and Elneny all unavailable, so the Frenchman has had to put his faith in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and you would think that his performance and effectiveness in the middle will be a key factor in the outcome of this hugely important Londo0n derby.

The manager’s other big decision, although this one was brought on by having lots of options rather than none, was how to line up in attack. Alexis Sanchez gets the nod so both Welbeck and Giroud will start on the bench and Theo Walcott and Iwobi will play on either side of the Chilean striker.

Cech
Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal
Coquelin, Oxlade-Chamberlain
Iwobi, Walcott, Ozil
Alexis

Subs: Ospina, Gabriel, Maitland-Niles, Reine-Adelaide, Welbeck, Giroud.

Chelsea’s line-up is pretty much as you would expect with Pedro preferred to Willian. Can Arsenal repeat our dominant performance over Conte’s team in September or at least get the result that we need to keep the title race alive?

Bob.

151 Comments

  1. There’s always way more traffic in here when we lose. And the fans at the game buried their heads after the first goal.

  2. Wenger should go. It is not rocket science to figure that out. Great Managers who won major trophies were still relieved of their jobs. Ancelloti and Mourihno for example. We need a new Manager. Nothing is bad in loosing away to Chelsea. But, If we had picked 10 out of 12 points in games against Everton, Bournemouth, Watford and Middlesbrough, we should have been very close to Chelsea at the top. but we only picked 2 points in those games. That is a shame. Wenger bought a quality striker in Perez. Since we have 5 strikers, the best thing to do is to play a front 3 of Sanchez, Lucas and Walcott when fit. in the absence of Xhaka, one of Iwobi and AOC should have played in CM. A potent attack is key. A child born in 2004(the last time Arsenal won the league) is a teenager in 2017. 13 years without EPL title and still with the same manager? What are we afraid of? how many Champions league trophies have Wenger won for us? He should be told to go. Get in a younger Manager. WENGER NO LONGER KNOWS. Bad Team selection, Undermining opposition, not changing tactics, Failure to give more game times to Players like Perez. Wenger deserves a sack. Benitez was sacked by Real Madrid. What is the big deal in sacking Wenger?

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors