Match Day Thread Arsenal vs. Reading (EFL Cup 4th Round) 2016/17 Official Match Thread

Obviously not positive as he is now out for a few weeks.

 

They have a Europa game, then a few days, then Everton in the league, then two days, then us in the cup, then 4 days, then palace in the league, then four days, then a Europa game.

I think it's highly likely they will need to be rotating at some point to deal with the fixture congestion. It just depends what they prioritise and how much they rotate.

 

That is a pretty full schedule. I'd expect them to rest some players for our game.

 

I would have sympathy but we'll be getting the same thing very soon ...

 

Yup and weirdly Wenger seems allergic to squad rotation.

 

I'm hoping he rotates when he has the choice, rather than the choice being taken away from him. We do have plenty of positions where we can rotate and keep our players as fresh as possible.

 

Perez has been ruled out until december with ankle ligament damage.

 

That's a blow especially when he hasn't had enough playing time to get into the swing of things. We still have Giroud, Walcott and Sanchez who can play across the front three, but getting Welbeck back in January should help. But the key players that we can't afford to lose are Ozil and Cazorla, they make the team tick and provide most of the creativity. I'm hoping Ramsey comes in and performs well, this will help reduce dependency on Ozil and Cazorla.

 

Agreed. The front line is a bit more flexible these days with Sanchez up there too, but Ozil and Cazorla are absolutely critical to the heartbeat of this team. Getting Ramsey back will be a big plus going into the busy winter period.

 

It's pleasing to see us play good football and be up near the top. But come on. . . Ramsay hasn't been a 'big plus' for us for years now. If we lose Ozil and/or Cazorla and have to rely on Ramsay to replace them we are probably going to be screwed.

 

I think Ramsey performed amazingly for Wales in the Euros and it's hard not picking him. He does give us an extra edge in attack from midfield, something Cazorla doesn't offer, though i wouldn't dream of dropping.

 

I don't care about Wales (and I don't think he was that good for them anyway).

He hasn't offered us anything for years since his amazing 6 months whenever that was.

 

I don't think Ramsey makes our best 11.

Cazorla is just too good to drop. Xhaka is already a starter and Coquelin is pushing for a place.

In the No. 10 role I think we will see Iwobi before we see Ramsey there.

 

During the tournament, he was pivotal to Wales progressing and when he got banned, they clearly missed him. I do agree that he has struggled to match that outstanding season he had for us, but he should be good enough to do a job against a lot of Premiership sides should one of our main central midfielders get injured. He is in his prime and has a few good seasons ahead of him, who knows, he might have a purple patch this season and regain some of his older form.

As TheBear pointed out, he doesn't start in our first 11 (same thing goes for Wilshere), but as a sub and against lesser opposition, he is good enough.

 

Only an Arsenal player could get a long term injury playing hardly any games.