Even though Arsenal piled the pressure on our Premier League rivals by taking all three points off Sunderland in the first game of the EPL weekend at the Stadium of Light, we are still locked on points with both Liverpool and Man City at the top of the table after they both managed wins of their own.
So it is still looking like this season will be the tightest and most hotly contested title race for many years and that means that every single point is precious. So even though we might normally say a draw would be an okay result from a hotly contested local derby, I really think we need to beat Tottenham at the Emirates stadium on Sunday.
We always want to beat the spuds, of course, but this time is perhaps more important than ever. Thankfully they are not in the best of form right now after the draw with Leicester City made it five games without a win in all competitions but I think we have to admit that under Pochettino they are a tougher nut to crack.
So I wonder whether Arsene Wenger is going to consider resting some of our key players like Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil when we travel to Bulgaria on Tuesday for the Champions League clash with Ludogorets Razgrad. It is also important for the Gunners to win that match to give ourselves the best chance of topping the UCL group but after smashing them 6-0 in the home tie he might think we can get the job done with a weaker team.
The boss did go with a full strength Arsenal XI in that home tie, though, and he will be wary of making any slip ups, which we have seen in Europe before. He might also be reluctant to change a winning team and perhaps the fact that we rested players last week for the EFL cup and that an international break comes after the derby will stop him from rotating.
What would you do Gooners?
Bob.
We saw against Middlesbrough that our first team get tired if they play three games in a week, so it makes sense to play some of the team that beat Reading. No point having a big talented squad unless we use them!
Gibbs and OX both started mid-week, impressed, started again on Saturday and impressed again, both with assists. I firmly believe the players and the boss of course, knows which players are fit to play whenever needed and when they need rest.
I think Giroud could start against Ludo, possibly with Walcott, Ramsey, Xhaka and Monreal returning in the starting XI.
Funny, when thinking about if Giroud, Ramsey, Xhaka, Monreal, Walcott, Ospina and maybe even Jenkinson would start against Ludogoretsk, that’s 6-7 changes compared to our win on the weekend. And still I don’t think our starting XI would be any worse, the opposite really!
What a squat depth!
You like your squats deep?
__________Giroud___________
The Ox____Rambo____Theo??
_______Xhaka____Elneny_____
Gibbs__Boss___Mustafi____Bellerin
_________Ospina___________________
I think this is very strong team and it is capable of winning this game comfortably, with our key players well rested like Alexis, Ozil, Le coq, and Iwobi,
Santi should also play some part if available.
Yes.but not the entire XI we cnt be underrating Ludogorets, it’s still a UCL game.. against Ludogorets play Ospina; Bellerin,Mustafi,Koscielny, Gibbs; Elneny,Xhaka ; Ox,Ozil,Ramsey; Alexis
Giroud n Iwobi ll come in
We need to rest theo/santi/monreal/sanchez/ozil. Play Giroud up top, iwobi/ox on the wings, Ramsay as AM, elneny/xhaka as holding MF and Gibbs/bostafi/Jenko at the back with ospina as the GK. That’s why we have the subs, if we need it we can put in our starters later on and crush them.
North London Darby is around the way and we need to crush those Spuds!
I think it’s important to get an early lead, which has been shown so often to destroy the moral of the opposition, so start our first team, but definitely sub them by the second half. I think Wenger is using the depth of squad to great effect. Players know they have to perform to stay on the pitch, so we’re not getting the dozy performances we were getting last year. Gibbs has certainly upped his game, and has been instrumental in the last two wins.