please log in to view this image Venue: Stade Bollaert-Delelis Date: Tuesday October 3rd 2023 KO time: 20:00 BST Overall Record Wins: 2 Losses: 1 Draws: 1 Last six meetings RC Lens 1-2 Arsenal Arsenal 1-0 RC Lens Arsenal 0-1 RC Lens RC Lens 1-1 Arsenal please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
Do we go full strength or rest a few? Bare in mind we looked a bit sluggish and tired against Spurs after the PSV game.
I don't think Arteta will do this, but if it were me, I would rest a few. Saka was limping heavily when he came off at Bournemouth, so I wouldn't risk him at all. I'd like to see Tomiyasu come in for Saliba and Kiwior for Zinchenko. I'd also like to see ESR start as an LCM, but don't think that will happen. Either way, we should have enough to rotate in a few areas and still beat RC Lens, who are currently 13th in the league. They've lost their two best players from last season (Seko Fofana and Lois Openda), and lost 4/7 league games so far this season, so they've had a troublesome start. They had a great season last year, having just missed out on the Ligue 1 title by a point. However, that that looks like it was a one-off exceptional campaign for them based on their previous league finishes. This is the first time they've been in a European competition for 23 years.
I would rest Saka, Saliba, Zinchenko, Odegaard and Jesus Have them as Subs who can come on if we need to win the game.
If Saka ain't rested he'll get a long term muscular injury IMHO. He's played in every one of your last 83 prem games. And has played a further 17 Cup matches for Arsenal in this time. (August 2021 -September 2023) On top of this he has played 30 times for England in that time. He played throughout the summer of 2021 in the Euros. So he has played 130 games in just over 2 years, lost one who summer break playing in a tournament and has played international in the other 2 summer breaks. In the previous 2 seasons he made a total of 84 appearances in total (58 league games). He just turned 22 and in the past 4 years he has played a total of 214 games (50 plus per season). Bearing in mind how those seasons were; 1. real pressure to finish the league during covid season ... league finished 1st weekend in August. 2. A shorter time span for the following season cos it started in late September and finished in May due to the Euros. 3. Last season being disrupted cos of the winter world Cup in Qatar. you are too dependent on him in some ways
It also defeats the purpose of having players like Nelson (who signed a new contract) and ESR if you’re just going to play Saka game after game with minimal rest. I get he’s a special player, but we have a squad for a reason. He’s also a human being and isn’t a machine. I’ve seen today we’re still interested in signing Pedro Neto, who I would absolutely take, but only if he’s a genuine rotation option that gets used and isn’t just going to be benched the same way Nelson and ESR have been.
I think he should be rested for Lens I also think Riess Nelson should be used more to give Saka a break Like you say, we're gonna burn him out otherwise. Same with Martinelli
I'd love to see Neto at Arsenal. We've been tracking him since 2019 apparently He'd probs play as a striker / across the front 3 too and would likely be more of an upgrade on Nketiah
Just a stat highlighting how important Saliba us to our team. He really is an incredible player and that's why, although people are saying he should be rested with the City game in mind, I think we will start him tonight.
1-0! Jesus! Lens give the ball away cheaply, and Saka squares it to Jesus, who finishes superbly on the edge of the box into the bottom left hand corner. Really smart finish.
1-1. Rens equalise. That all happened because Raya's clearance was appalling and they caught us in transition. Great curling finish to be fair, but he should never have been given that opportunity. Annoying.
Saka’s down injured. Not a good sign. It was obvious we shouldn’t have started him this game and that he needed to be managed better, but yet again, Arteta insists on using him like a bar of soap. We could all see it coming. And now he’s having to go off for Fabio Vieira. He’s likely not gonna be playing against City this weekend either which is a huge blow.
Saka off injured. Arteta really does seem to run certain players into the ground. Pochettino did the same with quite a few of our players.
We really miss Martinelli in games like this. There's just no movement to get in behind at all. He's the only player we have that can do this.
