Arsene Wenger has erred on the side of caution and left the Arsenal and Chile star Alexis Sanchez out of his match day squad altogether, despite the former Barca forward declaring himself willing to play – despite the medical advice that it would be a little bit too soon for him.
Danny Welbeck is properly fit again though, and the boss has brought his other summer signing straight back into the starting XI for the Gunners trip to White Hart Lane for the second North London derby of the season. I am a bit surprised to see that it is the England forward Theo Walcott who misses out though, with club record signing Mesut Ozil keeping his place in a wider role and Santi Cazorla continuing to run things in a central attacking midfield position.
That one change is the only one the manager has made, so Bellerin, Monreal, Ospina and Coquelin all get the chance to keep up their excellent recent form. This is likely to provide a stern test of Arsenal´s new found solidity and balance as well as a test of the character of our players in a vociferous and hostile away game, but that brilliant away performance at Man City is fresh in the memory and no one should be anything but confident.
Ospina
Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal
Coquelin
Welbeck, Ramsey, Cazorla, Ozil
Giroud
subs: Szczesny, Gibbs, Gabriel, Flamini, Rosicky, Walcott, Akpom
Go get em you Gunners!!