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What team should Unai Emery put out against Crystal Palace?

Changes expected against Crystal Palace following 1-0 defeat at Sheffield United.

You have to think that Unai Emery will be making changes to the team that lost to Sheff Utd last Monday evening. However, the Spaniard is proving to be a bit stubborn when it comes to making the necessary adjustments to the senior team.

It was surprising that Kieran Tierney was not started against the Blades, in fact, it was a shock to see none of the previous long term injured players start.

Emery is now under severe pressure, he cannot afford a second consecutive loss in games that Arsenal should win. If the 43-year-old persists with the same tired team he will only have himself to blame when it all goes wrong.

Bernd Leno will be between the sticks, that is a given. In front of him, the chances are that Emery will stick with Luiz and Sokratis in the centre. It is on the flanks that most focus will be on when the line-up is released.

I cannot see any justification in Emery not starting Tierney but I suspect he will stay loyal to Kolasinac. On the other side, I see the same scenario, Chambers will keep his place ahead of Bellerin.

In the middle, you just know that the manager will field both Xhaka and Guendouzi either with Torreira or Ceballos. I suspect it will be Ceballos. I cannot see him playing Willock from the start.

Upfront should be simple really with Lacazette, Pepe and Aubameyang starting.

So, this is the team I believe Emery will start with.

Leno
Kolasinac
Luiz
Sokratis
Chambers
Xhaka
Ceballos
Guendouzi
Pepe
Aubameyang
Lacazette.

Now, that is not the team I would start with. There are no less than six players I would change from that line-up. But I am not the manager, Emery is and that is the team I reckon he will start the game with.

What team would you pick?

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38 Comments

  1. …………..Leno

    Bellerin…Sokratis..Luiz..Tierney

    Pepe…Ceballos….Guendouzi…Martinelli

    ……Aubameyang…Lacazette.

    2. This is probably our most mature starting lineup, but it is difficult to start against palace because of Emery.

  3. I would prefer:chambers and holding as centre backs .Hector (RB) and Kirian(LB).Torierra(DM),Guend’and Dani(midfield trio)pepe,Lava and Auba completes my eleven

  4. ………Leno
    Bellerin..Sokratis..Holding..Tierney
    ………Torreira
    …Ceballos…..Ozil
    Pepe..Lacazette..Aubameyang

    1. For the first time am with you 100%> Then with the same, I would like to see an Ozil for Guendouzi replacement and see how he does with Ceballos. Lucazette can also get some minutes for any of the front 3 as per the game progression

  7. For me Tierney in the left. Leno and Matteo are a must, chambers provides balance to our defence, not sure where to use him though. I would put Xhaka on bench. Pepe and Auba starts for me. Crystal P. is a dangerous team this season, so I would stick to three in the middle including Ceballos or Willock (I am not counting Ozil, Nelson is injured) to provide some offence.
    Least changes squad.
    ————-Leno

    Chambers—Sokratis—Luiz—Tierney
    ———-Matteo G.—Torriera
    ————– Ceballos
    Pepe——Lacca/Auba——- Auba/saka

    If I can make trials:

    —————-Leno
    Bellerin …Chambers…Sokratis/holding–KT.
    ———–Matteo—Luiz
    ————-Ceballos
    Pepe——Lacca/Auba——- Auba/saka

    The reason for excluding Torriera, & Martinelli from starting is that they played 90 mins against Vitoria. Both and Willock can come from the bench.

  8. Our main undoing is our midfield. Unless it changes we will keep struggling against any decent opposition. We need a DM and from my observation a proper DM should be a player capable of playing as a central defender.That’s why players like Fabinho,Fenandinho&Ndidi have given there teams stability.Our own examples would be Viera,Gilberto & even Song who were suited for that role because they were capable of playing as defenders.That’s why Xhaka is a misplaced choice thus exposing our defence to constant attacks.Emery should think of using what he has and two players who should be considered for this role are Chambers and Luiz.I believe they can’t do worse than Xhaka and this may just transform our season.
    We also need Ozil back in our lineup even if he doesn’t play from the start his creativity may come in handy when the opposition is tiring. We have very good attacking players who are being held back because of our lack of creativity.

      1. Cliff, I’m with you, with Chambers instead of Socrates, who has had an obvious loss of pace and Luiz in midfield, with Torreira and Ceballos/Ozil.

  9. Bellerin Holding Chambers Tierney
    Torreira Ceballos
    Pepe. Ozil. Auba
    Lacazette

    Let’s play a team that can bang in goals FFS

  12. I doubt we will see it but I would like:

    ……. Martinez
    Bellerin Chambers Holding KT
    Pepe Guendouzi Ceballos Martinelli
    …… Laca….. Auba

    I think this is our strongest formation going forward, maybe more a 4231 shape depending on which players are rotated in and out. I don’t like the 433 formation as the only way to fit both Laca and Auba in that way is to push Auba out wide and that’s really not where he belongs imo.

    2. Strong side, but need a DM sitting in front of the back four, so Torreira for Guendouzi or Ceballos to start off, and Lacazette sitting centrally behind Aubameyang
      4-4-1-1.
      The interesting thing is the combinations and permutations we can come up with; it will be interesting to see how it comes together on match day?

      1. I agree Ozzie, Torreira would work and give a bit of bite in front of the the backline, but Guendouzi and Ceballos are imo the better pairing for playing it out from the back and are not bad as a double pivot together – the rest of our midfielders, inc Torreira, are too slow moving the ball about to make it work properly.
        And yes Laca should be playing off Aubas shoulder so it’s a 4411/4231 shape on the pitch depending on how high Pepe and Martinelli push up – apologies for the lazy formatting in my previous comment 😂

  13. Of course it is not expected of Emery to make changes to his team that lost 1 nil at away to Sheff Utd in the PL last Monday night. This is because the starting XI team that he started in the Sheff Utd match have now become the no 1 Arsenal PL standing team. And you don’t start disrupting the team you’ve taken time to carefully built wanting to see become formidable to watch and to beat.

    Emery can’t start Tierney nor Bellerin or Holding in the Crystal Palace match for the sake of the Arsenal fans who want to see the trio defenders start a PL match for Arsenal even if they are fatigued haven played 3 days back in a tough Europa League Cup match. This will not make sense at all if Emery does it. Therefore, L enjoy every Arsenal fans where ever they may be to support the team and have confidence always in them to perform and deliver for the club. Even during defeat like the one they suffered at Sheff Utd the support for the team by us Gooners should not wane but remain forcefully.

    My Arsenal 4231 formation starting XI and 7 man Gunners bench I have for the Crystal Palace match are as below.

    Starts:
    Leno;
    Chambers Sokratis Luiz Kolasinac;
    Guendouzi Xhaka;
    Pepe Ceballos Saka;
    Aubameyang.

    Bench:
    Martinez Bellerin Holding Tierney Torreria Willock Lacazette.

    i think if the Gunners play to their full strength in the match they should wallop the Eagles.

    1. I love the angle you came from, however, Xhaka has been a liability in the middle for a long time now, for me I would risk Torreria for him. We all want to cheer the team but this is not the arsenal I fell in love with in the 90s, however I’m still a gunner for life. Looking forward to Emery exit soon

      1. When Xhaka was finally subbed out against Sheffield he was replaced by Lacazette, and it made absolutely no difference to our midfield – that’s how much of an impact Xhaka has.

  15. Whatever team he wishes to put, this game is a must win. He may play 3 xhakas , 4 Papastathopouloss and 3 Willocks but all we want is nothing less than a win.(Even if it means our crappy Usual lucky wins let it be) Predicting his lineups is a waste of time because it’s never predictable. It wont even even be a surprise to see Ozil. Chelsea are playing nicely and winning. Leicester too. How much did both Lampard and Rodgers spend? How many seasons did they require? Do this teams even have close to a team that Arsenal have? Emery is joking too much.

  16. Chelsea’s now doing Burnley dirty….. away from home…… I feel sorry for us 😞….. For all the firepower in our strike force, we play boring defensive football…. smh

  17. Bloody hell.. Leicester scored 9.. Chelsea 4 so far… City won… we dropped 3 points on Monday, which means we can’t afford to drop any more!! God help Unai if we do……

  18. Sue, I dread the day we will play those two teams. I opened this site now and saw another article on Ozil. What the fcuk is wrong with everyone including admart. Is Ozil our biggest concern now. We have almost 200m worth attackers that deadly just we are struggling to have more than one two attempts on goal in 90mins, we played with purpose and direction, we can defend even our lives depend on iit, and over 90% of our passes are back/side passes and we are talking about a player doesn’t even make the bench. Who cares if he is on 1million per week or not the coach refuses to pick him, the club refuses cowardly to sell him or ask him to look for another club. We talk continuously as if he is the solution. Talk about Emery fans, write about Emery and instigate fans to carry placards and banner with inscription—- EMERY, SORRY WE ARE THE ARSENAL AND NOT STOKE. We got outplayed by Lady Vitoria and after we are mauled by Sheffield and we’re talking about Mo10. Am sorry we have got bigger problems than him

  21. please field the following people.leno,Bellarin,kolasinac,Holding,luiz,Guendoz,pepe,xhaka,lacazette,ozil,aubameyang

  22. No matter who the coach is, this Emery guy has already bought championship level midfielders that will burden our defence.

    The only solution is playing an extra defender.

    Martinez
    Mustafi…Mavropanos…Luiz
    Chambers..Torreira..Ceballos..Tierney
    Pepe….Aubameyang….Ozil

  23. Our best line up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. 1. Leno
    Bellerin Holding Luiz Tierney
    Torreira. Ghendouzi
    Pepe. Ceballos. Aubameyang/Martinez
    Lacazatte/Aubameyang.

  24. I query the defensive mentality of Unai Emery. overall the team is getting rottening. on ozil’s issue,how did it happen that xchaka being one of the worst player in arsenal have is spot guaranteed ahead of the likes of Ozil and Toreira. a clear difference between a manager and a coach,personnel manager and a trainer,a yesman and a leader, after Emery have scammed us with is twisted tongue to improve our players, with is sugardripping analysis of our players,should we fans now start fighting ourselves? let’s unite and send this Spanish weevil out of our club.

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