It has certainly been a funny old Premier League season so far and Arsenal fans can thank our lucky stars in some ways. The woes of the reigning champions Chelsea and their obnoxious former manager Jose Mourinho have been particularly enjoyable but the most important thing for Arsenal is that none of our EPL rivals have taken advantage of our own injury and form problems.
But the flip side of Man City, Liverpool and Man United struggling has been the likes of Leicester and Watford, as these two newly promoted sides have claimed a number of big scalps and find themselves in top spot and seventh. And while our visitors today have not done as well, I think we need to give a lot of credit to the other promoted club Bournemouth.
They have never been in the top division before and have been hit with even more injury problems than Arsenal, yet they have rallied after a tough start and are sitting in a respectable 14th place. In fact their last six games have earned more points than ours, so it would be crazy to underestimate them.
The way they have done so well is by giving everything to implement their talented young manager’s game plan and that is what we must be ready to deal with. That is why Arsene Wenger must freshen the team and why he must start Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. As I wrote in an earlier post, I feel we are starting to miss the industry and eagerness of Alexis Sanchez and while the Ox is not the same player I think he has the same qualities.
I would be tempted to make a few more changes as well, such as Gabriel and Chambers for Mertesacker and Flamini but the most important thing for me is energy and work rate and the Ox i9s the man to provide it. Do you agree?
Joel Campbell is good but Arsenal need somebody who has played for the team and I agree oxlade should start along with Gabriel,chambers. Ramsey is not effective as Coquelin who is still in the world of Wales qualifying for the Euros. Arsenal need energy with new signing from Basel I expect improved performance . It would be better if Wenger temptations towards playing Alexis is controlled cause it will hurt the side and the player in case of further damage. Gabriel should play more matches.
Wilshere=Diaby
Oh my goodness it seems what hodgson said about welbz and wilshere was true after all.They will not make it for the euros.
That sen!le old fo#l.That liar.
Arsenal will not win the league this season and wont go past barcelona just wengers old tricks
Even if all our players make it back we have a zero percent chance of beating Barcelona over 2 legs no matter what any deluded fan tells you!
its not the fans who say it.Its wenger and his deluded players
Same old ?
Happens every year, and you still get deluded fans (AKB’s) that think it will change.
Wake up and smell the coffe, but to do so grt your head out Wengers A.S.S
@Dragunov762mm above is for you
You are to blame just as much as that senile old fart.
So a fan is just as much to blame for the way Arsenal play as the manager and players!!?? And you think OTHERS are deluded? Time YOU woke up and smelt the freaking coffee!
We lost team defensive pressure at midfield, and it caused disastrous at all sectors. If you lost most of ball challenges you couldn’t make turn over. Fix this things up, and we’ll get three points. I prefer Joel over Ox, he’s more like a team player. At the back I agree, Gabriel should replace Per for this match. Midfielder? Still Rambo and Flamini, and maybe we should try Adelaide at second half.
Cazorla and Sanchez were needed for Soton game, Cazorla can keep possession and Sanchez has the energy to penetrate any defence, without them and Coquelin our team has NO BALLS
More bad news- Wilshere is out till February
OTHER INJURIES (apprx)
Alexis- Jan 9
Cazorla – March 16
Coquelin – February 16
Rosicky – Jan 24
Welbeck – Feb 6
source: physioroom
We really need a win today to raise spirits
We should’ve changed the team for the Southampton game, we could’ve started, chambers, ox and even iwobi, that team just looked tired… oh well its in the past…
Lets get the 3 points tonight COYG
It’s amazing how pessimistic people sound, on the eve of going numero uno!
First we trash Bournemouth, then we trash Newcastle, and then we have 100 million pounds till 13.1 to strengthen this team so we can trash Liverpool too.
glass is half full