It is a huge game on Monday evening for Arsenal manager Unai Emery and Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, one of them is not going to come out of the game in good shape.
A draw or loss will heap even more pressure on the beleaguered Solskjaer and a loss for Arsenal will have the same effect on Emery, that is the parlous state both managers are in right now.
For Emery, he has to make at least three huge calls, get any of them wrong and he could lose at Old Trafford and the fans will not be kind.
Defence
Who does the Spaniard risk in defence, does he bring back all three of Holding, Tierney and Bellerin, does he leave all three on the bench, does he keep Chambers in the line-up and does he risk starting with Luiz? He has to get this right, especially with United being short on forwards. Imagine if Arsenal concedes a couple of goals against a team with no recognised striker.
Xhaka
The Swiss international has been named as the new Arsenal captain but should Emery risk playing him in midfield when he is so clearly out of form, does he go with a man some Arsenal fans boo? Again, if he gets it wrong and United control the midfield and therefore the game the fans and pundits will react accordingly.
Formation
Will Emery risk going with the diamond formation once again? Will he go 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1? He got the formation wrong against Liverpool and against Tottenham at the start of the North London derby and cannot afford to do the same at United. Does he select a formation to counter United’s strengths or does he go with a formation that highlights Arsenal’s strengths?
Lots of questions there and it is down to Emery to have the right answers, it is literally his job and he has to start making the right calls, especially the big ones.
If we ever want to be a force in the EPL again, we must pick teams im accordance with our strenghts and not the opppsition’s.
You should know that Emery said that bellerin is not fit enough to play on Monday!
Chambers would most likely play then
Unless if Emery thinks Maitland-Niles’ pace would be better to keep up with the likes of James and Lingard
Emery must take high risk by using an attacking wide formation, such as 4-2-3-1. He shouldn’t be afraid of the backlash from the media and the fickle fans if he loses with an offensive setup
Arsenal has been reflecting the mentality of their managers in the last five years, which is timid and tend to play very safe. This is the result of the heavy pressure from the media and the Gooners, which shouldn’t affect a manager with a big confidence
Great managers usually impose their philosophy and rules to the club, not the other way around. If Arsenal cannot fulfill Emery’s requirements and discipline their players, Emery had better look for another club that can accommodate his vision
I hear u girl and we everyone pissed off already, before game. This is no coach, Klopp is one, has his player so happy and focused fo win game after game, win EPL!
He knows how to build and put a team together for a champion title. Not Emery!
ADMIN:I would like to know if the articles posted in this site are proof reading, today 2 articles were posted where the writer didn,t know that bellerin was not fit to play in Monday,another article noted that matic is one of the players who can hurt us even though the guy barely plays and when he does he underperforms also “david James” from man utd could hurt,the bright spark in man utd with 3 goals,the writer doesn’t know what he is talking about he could have chosen better and realplayers as examples..months ago we were promised a better site,articles..sadly the opposite has been happening,like it or not that is the truth,if you want to block me I couldn’t care less they are better sites popping up, all I ask from you is to have the decency to answer me and the reason you didn,t stick to the part of your bargain?thank you, hoping to hear from you!
I beg to differ. Bellerin is fit and wants to play and will definitely be in the squad. But Emery admitted that he would be introduced in stages so is unlikely to play the whole game, but he is certainly “fit”…
Secondly, Matic played 3 of United’s 6 EPL games this season, and with Pogba seemingly out injured he is very likely to play on Monday. If Martin thinks he can be a danger then is he entitled to his opinion?
Thirdly. I know you have probably never made a spelling mistake in your life, but I have to admit that I don’t know anyone else in the world that is as superperfect as you so I will reserve judgement for now. Especially as you wrote “if the articles posted in this site are proof reading”, which shows you are not infallible either.
We generally write at least ten articles a day between us so there will always be the occasional error that gets through. Maybe you would like to try and write so many every day and we shall see how you get on shall we?
You are quite welcome to ban yourself from our greatly improved site at any time you like. If you think that there are better Arsenal sites out there then feel free to go and criticize them and stop wasting my time.
You are free to send in your article if you have a different point of view. It is always easy to criticise someone else’s opinion when you do not put yourself up to be judged.
Having gone via this thread, I think that the writer has rights of opinion. If he thinks Matic is good to hurt us then it’s justified and that’s why we have a comment section to put up our different opinions. For instance, you (Fredrick) could choose to differ rather than criticize the article. After all, there is an option of writing and sending your Article to the Admin for publication. If you feel we getting substandard articles, then post one and let us see the different. I support the Admins on this
A 4-2-3-1 formation wll do arsenal good
emery should start chambers at right back..sokratis and holding at centre-back.in the midfield xhaka will start of course.he should put torreira and ozil. attacking he should put pepe martinelli and aubamenyang
Martinelli is a centre forward not a left winger & Auba works better in the middle so I don’t think Martinelli is a better option to Saka.