This is a big game for Arsenal, with last season’s away game at Everton being one of those that Arsene Wenger, his players and the fans would like to put behind them as quickly as possible. But with an even more important game against Besiktas in the Champions League on Wednesday, it comes at an awkward time for us.
But the Gunners are determined to stay as loyal as possible to their football philosophy and to be fair, we have not really got the players to park the bus, so the boss has gone for a pretty attacking and creative line-up, with the big news being that Alexis Sanchez gets his chance to show what he can do in the centre forward role, with Olivier Giroud dropping to the bench.
Another surprise is that Calum Chambers keeps his place in the centre of defence, but even more surprising, to me anyway, is that Koscielny misses out with per Mertesacker coming in. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain gets the reward for his impressive recent cameos with a starting role today, and Mesut Ozil returns to the number 10 role, unless the German plays on the wing with Jack Wilshere in the middle.
Szczesny
Debuchy, Mertesacker, Chambers, Monreal
Flamini, Ramsey
Chamberlain, Ozil, Wilshere
Sanchez
We have a pretty strong looking bench as well, which may be needed as Everton are able to name a full strength side apart from Ross Barkley, and are likely to cause us some real problems today. I would love a win, of course, but realistically would be more than happy with a share of the points.