It would be just about typical of the way things go for Arsenal in the Champions League if we were to rest all of the key players like Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil for the final group game away to Basel, only for PSG to mess up and fail to win at home to Ludogorets Razgrad.
If that heppened and a weakened Arsenal fail to beat the Swiss champions then the knives would be out for Arsene Wenger in the football media, but realistically the Frenchman has to assume that the French champions will get the home win they need to secure top spot in the group and so it is pretty pointless for him to risk an injury to one of our top Gunners when there are much more important games to consider.
The risk and potential reward of playing the best Arsenal players in Basel tomorrow do not add up in my book and besides that we do have plenty of players who are in need of more game time, such as Olivier Giroud, Rob Holding, Kieran Gibbs and Lucas Perez.
Surely if Wenger was happy to risk a good chance of making a Wembley final and winning the EFL cup which is a trophy that he has never lifted, then it is even easier to forego the minimal chance of PSG messing up in order to rest key players with an eye on the two Premier League games in the space of three days that we face starting this weekend.
Will the boss start a second string Arsenal tomorrow and would he be right to do so?
Bob.
The only way we could win the group is by PSJ loosing We have qualified to the next round so in essence we only need to beat our opponents in the next round so yes I would personally use different players to give them experience but the team most be a well balanced team cause we do not want to embarrass ourselves with a big loss
Actually if PSG draw and we win, then we will win the group.
Anyways let us not remember that Bayern is 2nd in their group and it’s possible that Real will finish 2nd as well.
So I say just rest players and try to win. And pray for a fortunate draw.
Yes of course, if so, it will give sense. Because you don’t expect PSG to loose at home and being a runners up seems good this season as there are some teams which are a group winner but reasonable good for Arsenal draw.
I would rest some of our important players. Sanchez and Kos come to mind and maybe Ozil, other than those three not sure how may “over-loaded” players we have.
Give Perez some more minutes and maybe start Giroud to make him feel better.
This game is not important IMO.
Our second string is rather poor. We need to mix it up a bit, bec losing can do us harm on our team moral.
Let ramsey play again, he is a player who complains a lot, but when chances given, he fails every time. Rest Sanchez and play Giroud up front. Iwobi left, and Theo right. Xhaka and Elneny combo and we wll do fine.
Basel have proven tricky opponents in the past to both Chelsea and Liverpool. They were no walkovers at the Emirates despite the 2-0 scoreline. We should show our opponents respect and not get ahead of ourselves like we did against Southampton. Minimum disruption to the team is best. We hammered Ludogrets 6-0 at home and there is no reason PSG should not attempt similar, however should they slip up, then we should be ready. Wholesale changes are unnecessary.
Ospina- Monreal- Holding- Mustafi – gabriel – Xhaka-leCoq-Ramsey – theo – ox and OG for me. we need to rest Oz , Alexis and KOS for the crunch coming soon. i still think we need to get Draxler in January. he’s 23 and will be a massive coup for the rest of teams in Europe.
It is not correct to say PSG have to lose for Arsenal to top the group. If PSG draw the match against Ludo and Arsenal win against Basel, Arsenal will top the group. So its not a lost cause as such.
I would suggest that key players like Sanchez, Ozil, Giroud be on the bench and the PSG match should be monitored. If by half time the PSG match scoreline is favourable, we can bring our top guns into the match to go for a win.
We have to ensure that our top players are available to play cos you can never tell what will happen in the PSG match
Play a competitive team please. Our 2nd string players are not that good, and even our 1st team players have not been at their best lately. Sanchez is the only player I would say it is okay to rest, and maybe Koscielny. Majority of our 1st team need to step their game up for the upcoming challenges.
I’m not so sure about that. Look at how the first team responded when our second team lost last week. Maybe it gives them the impetus to prove why they are first team players. ..