Mawson is out with that knee injury and Chambers isn't eligible under his loan agreement. Anguissa, injured or simple not good enough, is also still out. The Arsenal will be spitting bricks after their thumping at Anfield. Emery moved away from 3 at the back for that one playing a 4-3-1-2 and think that's what he'll stick with for our game. This fits the natural positions of his danger men; Ozil - who will be back in the side - Lacazette and Aubameyang. It also gives a solid platform for Torreira, who absolutely ran the show when they came to the Cottage. However, with injuries and other stuff they are definitely vulnerable at the back. For us, losing Mawson and Chmabers leaves big holes. Presumably the Manager will stay with 5 at the back and bring in Le Marchand for Mawson. Whatever else Ranieri does he must bolster the midfield and attempt to take them on and higher up the field; potentially falling back on the 'old brigade' - simply because the know each other's play well. Up front, despite all the 'Penalty-Gate' brouhaha, Kamara will be needed. For his pace, nuisance factor and giving Mitro that extra wee bit of freedom. So - ............................Rico............... ............Odoi,,,LeMarchand...Ream.. ..Fredericks......................................Bryan... ..............Cairney....McDonald...Sessegnon.. ................Kamara............Mitrovic.... However, given he was on the bench on Saturday, at the expense of McDonald, might be an indication that Cisse will be the one to get the nod at central midfield.
Today's man in the middle is Graham Scott. The Swindon supporter is kind of Mr Anonymous in the Premiership. Except when it comes to VAR. In last season's trials during FA Cup games, he upset the Dark Side in their tie against Norwich by appearing oblivious to the system and sending off two of theirs for diving. The last time we saw him was in May 2017 when we had a 2-1 win at Hillsborough. He booked Tomas Kalas and sent off a Wednesday player for a 'robust' tackle on Sone Aluko. Despite coming up to the Premiership in 2014 Scott doesn't get assigned all that many games. He's managed 12 games so far this season but only 6 of those were in the top flight. In them he dished out 15 yellows and 2 reds.
Suspicion that Kamara won't start but will come on as an impact sub, tempted to put £1 down on Kamara last scorer, 2-1 win to Fulham. Madness, I know. It could be a game for Stefan to start in too, if he's fit? We're thin in defensive mid and central def positions so I'd look at putting him alongside Kev in a holding position with Cairney ahead (or Seri) and then Sess / Vietto either side of Mitro. Would be interested to see Sess coming in off the right and not looking to beat his man down the line but get on the end of Mitro flick ons, would be curious to see him play off Mitro up top too in a Crouchy / Defoe style arrangement. Sess, to me, is more dangerous picking the ball up in central positions anywhere from midway in their half up to the opposition goalline. In the Prem, and I've not seen all his performances, he seems to get bullied off it in deeper and wider positions.
Not much in the game. [Preference over KMac, as hinted at, could mean the big man is indeed on the move.] Okay one down at half time but really pleasing to see us play the ball on the floor ... and forward ... so much more. Almost like old times. With a bit of luck we'd have got at least one ourselves through Sess twice and Mitro. I'd get Kamara on second half, in place of Schurrle, to rattle the Arsenal defence even more.
The scoreline flattered them. At 2-1 we were in with a shout but unfortunately our respective full backs go missing and their quality shows. Couple of plaudits to Seri and the redeeming Kamara after coming on. However, Fosu-Mensa was at the other end of the scale; simply wandered through the game with no commitment. Needs to go back home and free up a loan spot.
Yeah, bit of a shame. Defensive errors were back again but on the whole not a bad performance and scoreline is a bit harsh. I don't think anyone expected anything today. Always come away from Arsenal glad that I don't have to return for at least another year. I'm sure their fans are actually asleep.
Watching the highlights back on MOTD, if you’ve got it recorded look at Cairney for the first three goals, on third there is an angle where you can see him look at Torreira, look away, and then completely lose him. Torreira ends up at the back post and Cairney, as in the other two, has barely moved. I don’t want to go after him, we’ve been poor when’s he’s been injured, but you’d expect the captain to be putting himself about a bit more. I’m struggling to think of a PL regular starter who doesn’t defend, can think of a handful of strikers maybe but it is one of the things that separates the level between divisions.
