Unless Arsene Wenger is indulging in a bit of kidology with his rival manager, I am surprised to see that the Frenchman, instead of keeping his cards close to his chest like he normally does, has revealed a lot about the Arsenal team that will start the EFL cup match at home to Reading, as the latest team news on the Arsenal website has reported.
The former Manchester United and Netherlands defender Jaap Stam is the manager of Reading and although Arsenal should be feeling confident ahead of this match at home to lower league opposition, I reckon that Stam will be feeling a bit more confident knowing which players his Reading team will be coming up against.
Wenger said, “Cazorla will not be available, but it looked after the game that apart from some tired legs and disappointed minds, we had nothing else to declare.
“I think Olivier [Giroud] will be included, but for Aaron [Ramsey] it is too early although he is back in full training now.
“It will be a similar squad to against Nottingham Forest. We will have Gabriel, Holding, Jenkinson will be back and will play. Jeff Reine-Adelaide will play, otherwise I think Iwobi, Lucas, Oxlade-Chamberlain will also play. Gibbs – who captained the team at Forest – will do it again on Tuesday.”
Reading now know what our whole back four will be and they might just use that knowledge to their advantage, and they might also prepare a bit differently knowing that Giroud and not Alexis Sanchez will be leading the Arsenal attack, so do you think Wenger has made a mistake by revealing his team news early?
Bob.