please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Team News: (To Be Updated) Three Key Match-ups: please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Group F: please log in to view this image Second Round of Fixtures in Group F: Arsenal vs Napoli Borussia Dortmund vs Olympique Marseille Manager's Views: (To Be Updated) My Team: please log in to view this image
It will be interesting to see how Higuain plays against us after so nearly joining the club. I think he'll get some special attention from Kos. Should be a good test for us, but we're at home so we've got an advantage.
If we can get a win against Napoli we put ourselves in a strong position at the top of the group ahead of the Dortmund game. Hopefully Marseille manage to take points off Dortmund as well for the perfect round of results. A draw ideally.
As a thought, Arteta alongside Flamini, Ramsey CAM and Ozil on the right? Rosicky can be on the bench.
Hes already played one game on the wing for us and looked better there than he did in the centre against Swansea. Im not saying he should always play there. Its not just about one player but what will give the best overall performance from the whole team. If that means moving Ozil wide so be it, but as I said it was only a thought.
Napoli will be very good tomorrow, i'm confident of that. Say what you want about Benitez, when it comes to European football, his ability to set up a team is almost unmatched. If past form is anything to go by, they'll play a counterattacking style, so Flamini and Ramsey are going to have to work well to not leave the CB's exposed when we go forward, or Hamsik is going to pick us apart. Might be worth man-marking him, put Ramsey on him, as Ramsey has the engine to deal with the role, and seems to have discovered some pace too, he doesn't seem to be "towing a caravan" when he runs at the moment. If we get a point, i'll be happy. Benitez + good players + europe = a very difficult game.
Hopefully those rumours are true. Higuain has already been showing his class at Napoli and I am still gutted that we missed out on him.
Spot on with Benitz, in Europe he's always putting very good teams together that are hard to beat. Even Wenger eluded to it in his recent interview. This wil be our toughest home game to date and they have a few dangerous players to look out for. It's a good thing that both Ramsey and Flamini are in good form as we need that extra protection for our defence against their fast counters.
If Gnabry is fit to start - hasn't he had 3 games in a week? Then stick with it. Otherwise start Rosicky (wenger might do this anyway due to experience).
Playing Rosicky may be a good idea as he's very good in retaining possession and has the experience to boot. We might need to play him on the left unless Wilshere is favoured. Leave Gnarby on the right as we don't have anyone else, unless we have Jenks playing there.
If not SJW's team i would personally go with ---------------Wos------------------ -Sag---Mert----------Kos------Gibbs ----------Ramsey---Arteta---------- ---------------Rosicky/JW------------- ---Ozil---------Giroud-----------JW/Rosicky