Mikel Arteta has used the same starting line-up in all three of Arsenal’s League games so far, but with an away game coming up at Villa Park on Wednesday, it must be time for him to start utilising some of his very large squad back into the spotlight. Surely that is the whole point of having two good players in each position, so they can be rotated like for like without an obvious drop in quality of the collective.
But which would be the obvious changes that he should make to still ensure we win our fourth game in a row?
The first move for me would to bring back Tomiyasu and Tierney to the starting XI, as they have been brought back gently from their long injury lay-offs and should now be ready to start.
It will a very tough choice to drop either Jesus or Martinelli from starting, but maybe Arteta could start subbing them earlier in games when we have built up a lead, to try and keep them fresh.
Saka looks in need of a rest so maybe Marquinhos, Vieira or Smith-Rowe could step up. My money would be on the young Brazilian after playing two full U21 matches and scoring in both.
I’m not sure Arteta would risk playing Lokonga instead of Partey or Xhaka, but neither can play every single game so something will have to give at some point, or will the boss wait until he is forced to make the change?
Well this is going to bem my tentative choice for today…..
Ramsdale
Tomiyasu….Gabriel…Saliba….Tierney
Partey…Xhaka
Martinelli…Odegaard…Marquinhos
Jesus
But, knowing Arteta’s usual take, he will probably go with the same starting line up as last week, but he must surely make full use of our five substitutes to give some fresh legs a run out ahead of Wednesday’s game against Aston Villa…
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