Just two days ago, Arsenal were humbled 4-0 by Southampton in our worst defeat of the whole year, and we would expect Arsene Wenger to try and refresh the side by bringing in some fresh faces. Playing two games so close together is usually a recipe for disaster, especially as the starting XI looked tired and listless against Southampton, but Wenger seems to disagree and has hinted that the same team will start again this evening.
“When you lose a game, [the media] say: ‘Why don’t you change?’ – but when you lose and you have changed, they then say, ‘Why did you change a side that has won in a convincing way?’” Le Prof told Arsenal.com.
“Why do I use this team? Firstly because they win, and secondly because 80 per cent of the players that play are not overloaded with games and look well.
“If you look at the number of games Mathieu Flamini, Aaron Ramsey and Joel Campbell played since the start of the season… even Olivier Giroud for a long while didn’t play games and Theo Walcott also has just come back.
“These players are not overloaded with games. It is not like they have played 25 games.”
Wenger had already named an unchanged side for the Boxing Day match, and although some may think that our manager is showing loyalty to his players despite our disastrous loss, but the fact is that we don’t really have that many options to bring in, especially if we are trying to improve the side….
Do you think that Wenger is risking burning out our players by not rotating?