The final Premier League games are here and what a disappointing campaign it turned out to be, to miss out on top four the way we have has been very frustrating because we had it in our own hands on multiple occasions and yet we find ourselves needing a miraculous eight-goal swing, Tottenham to lose and us to win to finish top four.
It is not going to happen and you have to think that Unai Emery accepts the situation and that must surely influence what sort of team he puts out against Burnley.
It is over two weeks until the Europa League final and so there is no need to rest players as such but injuries must be avoided and therefore you cannot be selecting players that may be tired after the trip to Valencia on Thursday night.
I believe he will stick with Petr Cech in goal, it is going to be his last ever Premier League game and Emery will acknowledge this I am sure.
The defence could see a back four of Lichtsteiner, Sokratis, Mustafi and Monreal simply because I do think he will want to risk Koscielny, Maitland-Niles or Kolasinac from the start.
I expect the midfield to consist of Torreira, Guendouzi and Xhaka with Mkhitaryan and Iwobi just behind Aubameyang up front.
I will be surprised if Emery picks Ozil or Lacazette in this away game, there is simply no reason to.
So, my predicted starting eleven is
Cech
Lichtsteiner
Sokratis
Mustafi
Monreal
Torreira
Guendouzi
Xhaka
Mkhitaryan
Iwobi
Aubameyang
Now, I will admit that my predicted line up is pure guesswork, Emery has given almost no indication of the sort of team he is considering putting out, he could easily pick Ozil, Lacazette, Elneny and even Joe Willock or Eddie Nketiah.
But I do think that the boss will try and strike the right balance by putting out as strong a team as possible while not taking any major risks.
Because we played Thursday night and Burnley have had a long rest in addition to our poor away record I am sadly going to go for a draw in this game.
Predicted score
Burnley 1-1 Arsenal
Why would he play Cech when Leno is our Prem keeper?
Cech is for EL according to Emery.
And why play Cech at all, who is about to retire,when we have a distinctly better keeper in Leno and esp with his feet, which is now a general requirement with all top keepers? There will be some changes certainly but they must not be wholesale ones which will disrupt the new found rhythm seen in Spain. I admit it was mostly our front two who won the game but even the generally hopeless ones in defence were a bit better than of late. Confidence is everything and a bad defeat at Burnley by fielding a kids eleven would set us back.
Ozil is not going until 2021, at least we will not be losing one of our talents.
Nicely put Pat. At least some of us on here can still recognise talent.
What has the talented Özil achieved for the team over the last seasons?
If you don’t know by now then I’m afraid any explanation would be beyond you.
When you try to use suppression techniques you have already shown that you have no objective arguments to give and therefore you have given up.
But there is not point in carry this on. Have a good day! 🙂
Suffermountain. Yes, I’ve given up trying to explain things to the folks on the ‘Ozil Haters Bandwagon’ – which I assume you have now joined – as they don’t seem able to understand simple reason/logic.
By the way we already have someone on here who tries to find and use different words to the rest of us in what seems to be an attempt to show us all how brilliant he is. He goes by the name ‘gotanidea’ and if he can’t find English words (like towering instead of tall, inverted wingers etc) then he’ll scour the internet for foreign words. He’s currently using the Italian word Mezzala and even the Japanese -san e.g. Iwobi-san. So obviously if you think you think you will impress me with your new phrase ‘suppression techniques’ please think again. I don’t use suppression or any other techniques. I simply write about what is actually happening on the field of play. I’ve covered Ozil on many other posts and an article, which was quite well received (but only by people who could think of course – so not by the hater’s club). Hence my decision not to bother with them.
“. . . there is not point in carry this on” – if you mean there is no point in carrying this on then fair enough. I apologise if you are new to the English language.
Arsenal great Emmanuel Petit has urged the club to sell Mesut Ozil in the summer, and says that the German is a “dead player” who “looks like a ghost on the pitch” when he’s in Gunners colours.
And Petit is absolutely right!Get rid of that lazy ghost!
You can’t sell someone if they don’t want to leave.
This isn’t eBay.
As much as I believe in Ozil’s ability, he might find himself shaking hands with the U23’s coach, if his performances don’t improve.