Arsenal News

Official team and preview for Arsenal v Southampton

Arsenal really need to get all three points against Southampton today to get our Premier League title challenge back on track. And after only getting two points from the last three EPL games, the prressure is on. The performances have not been too bad though and after a win in the last game against Burnley in the FA cup the confidence of the players should be opay.

The Gunners are also boosted by the return from injury of two key players in Coquelin and Alexis Sanchez, so it a little bit of a surprise to see Le Coq on the bench for this crucial game, and Flamini starting in the middle along with Ramsey. Maybe Arsene Wenger is a bit worried about the fitness of the French midfielder.

Another slight surprise to me is that Gabriel keeps his place ahaed of the BFG, but that could well be due to the way their pacy attack with Long and Mane gave us problems in the awagame on Boxing Day. THe other big decision that the boss had to make was was about who to play on the other flank to Sanchez and he has gone for Campbell over Walcott.

Cech
Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monrea
Flamini, Ramsey
Campbell, Ozil, Sanchez
Giroud

Subs: Ospina, Gibbs, Mertesacker, Chambers, Coquelin, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott

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147 Comments

    1. The front 4 I have dreamed about since the Greek game. Let’s hope it is as good as my imagination is. ?

      1. @muffdiver
        I been doing before every match ever since I got here…Gonna keep on doin it. Gotta have faith Bro.

  2. You can always count on wenger to make a foolish decision. Flamini starting ahead of coquelin?! I predict Wanyama will have an easy time running over our midfield midgets

    1. Coq will not have the fitness in his legs to start the game. He will get time later on in the match. The Flame will be fine, and lets hope our front four unleash hell on them to make our defence’s job that much easier.

      1. His being rested ? all them shots on goal against Burnley has worn him out ?

        #Wenger is a muppet!

    3. Dude your opinion isnt credible take your agenda driven hate somewhere else Coq has been out for 2+ months and you want him to play 2 games in 3 games get outta here with that

  4. You cab always count on wenger to make a foolish decision. Flamini starting ahead of coquelin?! I predict Wanyama will have an easy time running over our midfield midgets

  5. No Elneny on the bench? Arsenals curse of injury hit him already!!

    Can understand Coquelin being rested this game and come on late for Flamini, Ramsey needs not to bomb forwrd at every chance tonight and do it when the time is right and let Ozil work his magic and get a few ozissts. Sanchez and Campbell best choice wingers we have at the club. Glad to see Gabriel kept in there a clean sheet will do him no harm.

    Big game tonight, big 3points needed and statement that we are in this title race. COYG

  6. Don`t understand benching Francis, and letting Flamini play? And then bring in Francis when it`s too late. I hope this will not end up another judgement error by Wenger.

    Good luck to our boys.

  9. I understand Coquelin just came back from Injury’ hence’ flamini starts but no elneny on the bench? Well, hopefully’ we get the 3pts.

    Flamini to score a goal…lol. Wild guess’

  10. Hahaha … Okay, it’s great to see that Wenger has come to his senses regarding Gabriel. .. But why the @#@# is he sticking with Ramsey and Flamini? ?

    2. Fat,

      Has Wenger ever based his selection of Ramsey on prevailing form?

      Cant wait for the reckless, bombing runs forward and Crunch screaming @ the troops as Wanyana bosses the midfield.

      Is Wenger saving our Egyptian savior for Barca?

      God help us all. Lol

  11. Good solid line up,glad Gab is getting a game ahead of Per…..amd hopefully Flamini will know his job and sit tight, no need for him to keep bombing forward and leaving his space open….and he should concentrate on hi game and.stop trying to tell other players what to do. Leadership is well and good but you need to be aware of your own game before telling others what to do!!!

  12. Can’t believe the Ramsey and Flamini combination is still going strong, does Wenger even watch their performances? At least Mertesacker’s not playing, which is better than nothing.

  13. for once I agree that this is the best lineup we could have had…you can’t just throw in coquelin in such a game.he has been out for months!!!!!! he lacks match fitness…are you crazy fans?! look.we all love him and his nice game but for once I agree that he is not ready

  15. Jesus …trust wenger to do,something dumb … Flamini Ramsey line up can’t hold the ball and gives zero defensive cover against a fast moving opponent getting back to form …. A lot hinges on the attack tonight i think so just,hoping everyone shows up …. Particularly giroud

  16. Hahaha ?
    Well, to be fair, he did just about get the Burnley game right ?
    But his ” we got this” in the prem games,have been woeful ? may as well @#@# off to bed now ???

    Thanks a bunch, NY ???

    1. As you would say “sado masochism mate” ?

      It was so blatantly obvious that this was going to happen!
      But noooooo, mr Wenger knows best… right? ??

      At this moment in time, we are sitting in our beloved 4th spot,
      in the shadow of the Spuds! ????

  26. Are we a player short ? It seems like it!!!! Bellerin has really gone down hill recently… But flamini Ramsey is just a shockingly bad combo …. While Giroud Campbell ain’t going to take us to next level … And the French genius couldn’t find ways to improve us … Comical

    1. RKW,

      Everybody with a football brain knows that midfield abomination doesnt work except the the “French Genius” that consistently sends em out.

      Bellerin is still green and naive but has loads of potential

      We know what we have in OG, Campbell, Ramsey, Flamini, etc and it collectively isnt good enough to seriously challenge for EPL or Champions League silverware.

      But for what its worth Arsene believes and wants a February to remember from the Gunners.

      Classic Arsenal

      1. Greg??? Contain you’re frustration dude or gear it in the right direction. You know what else is obvious, our right side is weak today and the midfield is a joke bar Özil.

  33. Spurs winning comfortably the same team we barely drew, City winning, even United managed to score 2.

    We haven’t scored in 225 minutes. Let that sink for a while…

      1. Listen Muff-face, it’s not about ‘getting’ with the girl, but about ‘coming’ with the girl!

  34. Can’t for the life of me understand why barca didn’t shelve out 60m for Ramsey .. We’ve kept on to a world great there

  35. u lot better pray we dont lose coquelin
    no coquelin no title charge
    its not just the way he bosses midfield , he starts alotta attacks and he keeps pressure on opposition with his interceptions.

    1. Brilliant call by Wenger to neglect fortifying that position in the last 2 windows.

      Kondogbia
      Krychowiak
      Wanyama
      Imbula

      Any of them better than Crunch?

      FFS

  36. Our attack has been clueless, we are totally outdone on the right side, Campbell, Ramsey, Flamini, Gabriel showing worse than avg. performance, midfield getting muscled out, defence is shaky, and we have one shot on goal, which Nearlyyyyyy misses out.

    But still I am positive.

    1. I am sure our experience
      will come through
      plus we have Theo
      and Ox from the bench.
      Also we have SANCHEZ 🙂

  37. FELLOW GUNNERS !! WE ALL LOVE ARSENAL BUT THE TRUTH MUST BE TOLD. BASED ON LAST 5 GAMES WE HAVE NOT SHOWN CHAMPIONSHIP FORM AND METTLE. I will be bold to say we are not going to win this title!!! WHETHER YOU AGREE OR NOT THE SIGNS ARE THERE.

    – Our players are not bad but we have a very unbalanced team as has been the last few years. Players out of position. – compare us to Totennham. Overall they have a better squad
    – A few not fit to be in the team because Arsene would not invest at the right time
    – MOST IMPORTANT: POOR TACTICAL SET-UPS BY WENGER. THIS IS BECOMING TOO EMBARASSING TO COVER UP. FOR THE PL MOST EXPERIENCED MANAGER, WHY ARSENE CANNOT UNDO SOUTHAMPTON, STOKE ETC. JUST BAFFLES ME!!

    ARSENAL WIN OR NOT LET US ENJOY WATCHING AND HOPE FOR THE

  38. We are missing Cazorla seriously more than anybody else.
    Sorry to Ramsey fan .Ramsey is poor excuse of a CM for a top team. Him and Wilshere are More suited to teams like Everton and Tottenham looking to break into the Top 4 .
    They are definitely the worst 2 midfielders I have seen in an arsenal shirt.
    Even that, I doubt the will be automatic starters in those teams based on the way they are playing
    He is certainly not champions league class
    His positioning is poor.
    He is not controlling anything .
    He is not dictating anything .
    He is not there when the defenders need an outlet under pressure.
    Leave flamini out . He is doing his job .

      1. Injured or not , he is still not good enough for the level we are playing at.
        Do you honestly believe that either Ramsey or Wilshere would get a game at Barcelona, Real Madrid or even city

  39. I can’t f***ing believe Flamini is starting let alone still wearing the Arsenal shirts. He is so clueless out there every time I watch him play. He’s got no pace, his body strength is not up to EPL standards, lacks the stamina to play full game every week, technically s***, can’t make a single forward pass to save his life. His positional awareness is terrible too, as you can see whenever the opposition starts a counter attack he is backing off, lining up along with our central defenders rather than try to slow down their tempo as Coquelin would normally do. For someone with vast footballing experience supposedly at the age of 31, he shows no composure or footballing sense whatsoever in that midfield. Whenever I see him hesitate and thread a weak pass straight to the opposition I just wanna punch him in the face.

    1. to top it he would not accept our offer and left the club on a free after we put him on the map, only for wenger to bring him back. no team with any ambition has a flamini in the squad let alone the starting 11

  41. the fact that the pundits are saying this year is arsenals chance because everyone else is slipping up and not because we are good enough is a joke

    1. The pundits that say that are trying to make out that the premiership is still the best league when it is clearly not.
      They know all the teams have been playing average (including Arsenal) and to try to make out that the premiership is still the best they pretend that other “big” teams have not been up to par…. though the truth is the big teams are currently just average.

  44. Beautiful by ozil … Doubt he will stay if we don’t do anything this season … But no threat up front

  46. Oap snug in his sleeping bag on the bench …just needs slippers and a thermus with hot set and he should be all set for the evening

  53. This is the season Tottenham finish above us.

    They have a gd young team, if players stay loyal lack on cash wont affect then like us when building stadium

  54. We are making Forster the dummy look like Neuer with our weak efforts. Even Koscielny let us down there.

    1. No worries Arsene will petition for a March transfer window and subsequently bring Sanogao, Debuchy, Gnarby and Hayden back from loan and sign Robbie Keane from tbe LA Galaxy.

      Book the parade @ the Emirates!

    1. Don’t worry, WELBECK is back!!! His average 3 goals/season will save us.. the 4th place!

  59. Ozil keeps putting food on the plate, but our players clearly aren’t hungry.

    If Ozil and Sanchez leave us I wont blame them tbh, wont hate them, they should be winning trophies for their quality.

  60. Time to bring the goal scorers off the bench ….. Oops we don’t have any …. How long left in the transfer window?

  66. This is truly awful. Same story every year. Don’t know when we last played well or how we managed to beat City.

  67. If we cant win this how will we beat City, Spurs, Leicester and United?

    4 points from those 4 the way we going

  69. 4th by end of tonight and rightly so. Anyone think spurs and leicester cant finish above us now? Ofcourse they can!

    Wenger Out.
    Missed out on Klopp and Pep for this sharade every season. This team or manager have not got it in them unfortunatly. Never know maybe next season. What the hell is the point if we cant bloody score. Its getting boring now with Wenger at Arsenal folks, its time to go at the end of the season, how many chances has he blown to win the league this year already?

    Good squad – Wrong man in charge!

  73. What the f**k wrong with Arsenal Leicester city, Manchester United and Man City all on the winning list please God help Arsenal fans and save we from this painful moment Wenger should leave us the f*** alone Arsenal fc is not a fu**ing Wenger fc for God sake! Can someone tell f***ing Wenger to leave this our beautiful Arsenal alone please we had enough of him telling us stories everyday
    We still on the same f****ng s**t every day smh.

  75. Why did we take Campbell off for Walcott?

    Flamini, Ox, Mert, Welbeck, Rosicky, Wilshire, Gibbs and Wenger need to go

  76. its the same $hit every f###ing year no spine from the manager all the way down to the team.
    from our whole squad we probably have 4 players that are PL champions material

  80. Fing BS excuse of a team

    Bellerin, Chech, Kos, Monreal, Ozil Sanchez

    Only players Arsenal quality

  82. Is almost 89 minutes for goodness sake how the fu** can we go from top of the table the button 4 games 3 points i can’t believe this is Arsenal i filled so bad for the fans out there @the Emirates stadium

      1. I have been blocked by Walcott on Twitter for asking him a question on why he doesn’t do anything in most game. So I agree

  90. Im sorry but we are fcuking $hit. 3 games without a fcuking goal. Top 4 challenge yet another year. WENGER OUT!!!!!!!!

  91. Now let’s here the soothing words of clever trevor the (un)analyzer Joshua and all the other big wenger hearts … Only 5 points behind leaders …. Welbeck coming back soon …. Walcott just needs more game time …. Giroud has scored an average of a goal every 38 seconds … Flamini has stood in grand …Arsene knows better than everybody coz eyes paisan 8 million and u just talk rubbish … Not even funny anymore

  92. Lol like I said predictable

    Without a world class striker u don’t win jack.
    Bottlers no heart n9 passion same old arsenal

    I said sadly spurs are stronger in every department

  93. BOBs next 6 posts in 2 days

    we were unlucky
    next 6 games are winnable
    We are concentrating on the FA cup
    Welbeck is back
    Refs don’t like arsenal
    Wenger looks towards barca

    lets face it boys we all knew this would happen, top 4 is the only trophy we desire, and heres a glimpse into the future, when wenger leave the manager will be a relative unknown chosen by wenger to continue making money

    AKB can kiss what i sit on

  94. Doesn’t even look like there will be a St. Totteringham’s day this year. If that happens, Wenger absolutely has to resign. I don’t mind losing the title, it was never ours for the taking, with the mindset of the squad, but the least they can do is provide a petty little St. Totteringham’s day.

  97. lol…we haven’t played Leicester, Man City, Spurs, Man Utd and Everton yet (4 of those which are away games and we are at 4th now) not to mention tricky teams that can also take away points like Crystal Palace, West Ham and Swansea City…. We can kiss the title goodbye. We look scared even at home. I hope Leicester win the EPL. That will be a great story. They deserve it.

  98. “Wenger wants Fantastic February to
    give Arsenal EPL title control”

    We are simply overrated.

  100. we should have bought that Afobe off that premier team for a couple of million, hang on a minute doh doh doh!

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