We very rarely play well after an away game in Europe even when we're in good form. We have to hope the players just just about do enough to scrape a win like again Anderlecht, Palace.. Let's hope we don;t concede first like we always seem to these days and allow Sunderland to park the bus
Starting him would seem to be a bit of a gamble - but the quicker he is up and running, so to speak, the better. It would be nice if he rose from the bench to pinch the winner and prove my last post to be wrong!
use wiziwig.tv always gets a decent stream we should have enough to beat them. the struggle will be breaking them down. they'll put in an all out defence performance after last week, so we'll need to work hard to break them down. still, if we get an early goal we can wipe the floor with them.
I would have liked to see walcott play an u21s game again and brought along slowly so he doesnt get injured again. I reall6 hope we go at Sunderland from the off with a high tempo, then we could knock their shaky confidence while reinforcing ours
Bring Walcott on for 30 mins at the end, I think his presence will be a big boost for the squad. I can't wait to see what Sanchez and Walcott will do together.
Arsenal XI: Szczesny, Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs, Arteta, Flamini, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Sanchez, Welbeck
Assuming we are playing 4-2-3-1 then it would mean we have 2 def midfielders, carzola being creative in the middle and 2 quick wingers (I hope the Ox will show up in this game).
MF pairing of Arteta and Flamini is a bit slow, but should give some defensive shielding, allowing Gibbs and Chambers to get up the flanks and Oxo to drive forward
Interesting choice - having Arteta back should reduce the amount of work/exposure on Flamini and cover the back 4 better, while Arteta will check possession and set up attacks better. I hope Wenger wants Monreal to play RB and Chambers at CB.
If Monreal is playing CB, Hull will look to exploit him all day long. And with Mertesacker being so slow, I doubt he'll be much help when Monreal is inevitably caught out of position. Maybe one of Monreal or Gibbs is playing RB, but I highly doubt it. Moving forwards, Arteta will keep the ball well, and alongside him Flamini will help shield the defence, but neither will be much help going forwards. Arteta can pick a pass, but he no longer has the pace to both defend and attack all game. Cazorla will have to fullfil most of the creative burden himself.
Playing 2 defensive midfielders against a team that just lost 8-0, lol. Shows how much confidence Wenger has in his own team.
