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 - Mathieu Valbuena please log in to view this image - Alaixys Romao please log in to view this image - Nicolas N'Koulou Previous Meetings: Olympique Marseille 1 - 2 Arsenal Arsenal 0 - 0 Olympique Marseille Olympique Marseille 0 - 1 Arsenal please log in to view this image Group F: please log in to view this image Fifth Round of Fixtures in Group F: Arsenal vs Olympique Marseille Borussia Dortmund vs Napoli Manager's Views: (To Be Updated) My Team: please log in to view this image
A win here and we're virtually in the knockout stages. Question is what result do we want in the other game. 0-0 draw would be good.
I'd go for a strong team with some youth on the bench, something like: -----Sczc----- Sagna--Mert--Kosc--Gibbs ----Flamini----Ramsey---- Walcott*--Ozil---Cazorla ---------Giroud------- Subs: Flappy, Verm, Monreal, Arteta, Rosicky*, Gnabry, Miyaichi *depending which of Walcott or Rosicky is fit to start I think it's important to go out and make sure we get the win, we want to ensure qualification from this game if the other result goes our way. If we are comfortable then give some youth a chance but otherwise we have a couple of experienced players to bring on and sure things up.
By the way i'm loving that we can finally play a strong starting team and still have strong options on the bench. We could have Arteta, Rosicky and Wilshere/Walcott on the bench. Is this the first game of the season where we have 3 players who are not defenders on the bench who are not youth or Bendtner?
Provisional squad on BBC says no Miyaichi Arsenal provisional squad: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Flamini, Cazorla, Ramsey, Ozil, Walcott, Giroud, Fabianski, Arteta, Monreal, Wilshere, Rosicky, Gnabry, Vermaelen, Bendtner.
Bendtner's been arrested for criminal damage, so i guess he's out of the squad. We know Arsene loves discipline.
Now thankfully Wenger isn't going to do that, but you honestly make no sense. Why in blue heaven would you leave out Wilshere to make way for Miyaichi???????? You do know this is a massive game, that we must win, and you go into such a game with the strongest squad possible, so why would you drop Wilshere out of the entire squad to make way for Ryo has done nothing at all for us, and has never impressed, in such a big game? I think some fans here want to just press a self destruct button? Like gooner a while back saying we should take a gamble and start Bendtner instead of Giroud against Norwich! Da ****? Yeah how about we drop Ozil and play Eisfield in his place too......
Also should be noted Ryo was looking good until he had that injury setbacks. Don't write him off yet. In any case he won't be in the CL squad
We can qualify tonight if we win and Dortmund don't. That will be a real achievement from what was termed the 'group of death' if we can do it with a game to spare.
A very good achievement indeed. We've had one of the toughest groups and come back after a couple of wobbles. We've shown good mental strength!
I'd play our strongest 11 based on fitness and hope to secure early progression. This isn't a game you can afford to feck about in and I certainly don't want to watch us on channel 5 every Spursday. -----------Chezzers------------- Sagna--Merts--Koscielny--Gibbs --------Flamini--Ramsey--------- ---Walcott----Ãzil----Cazorla--- ------------Giroud--------------- The front 3 midfielders depend a lot on injuries. Not sure if Theo is ready to start yet so if Tomas is fit then I'd start him on the left and Santi on the right keeping the speedster as a sub in case we need him later on.
