FA Cup Final I Arsenal v Chelsea I 5.30pm, Saturday May 27th

[Brown Gooner]

Very important game this. Now that United have won the EL this is Arsenal's only chance of salvaging something out of this season. Denying Chelsea the double would be really sweet. However, Chelsea are the odds on favorites to win this thing. They are in excellent form and have a fully fit squad at their disposal.

Arsenal must stick with the 344 formation. Cech has to start in Goal.

Laurent and Gabriel are out. Mustafi should make it and Sanchez is fine.

I don't like the idea of starting Gibbs at LWB against Chelsea. Nacho has been very good at LWB for us and I'd gamble with Per as CB if it means it's either the BFG or Gibbs. Despite his lack of pace Per is a very good CB. Has a good sense of positioning and is a threat in the air. Plus he's the captain and would bring in much needed leadership af the back. Per, Xhaka, Holding and Cech (and if Giroud starts too) should be able to keep the Chelsea Giants in check.

I think we should start Welbeck up top. Although his finishing leaves much to be desired, we look a more fluent and positive team with his pace and movement up top. Giroud is a very limited player, however he has the knack of scoring goals.

Chamberlain is ready but he hasn't had much game time recently and throwing him in such a big final with lack of match preparation, that too against a physical team like Chelsea, could end up really bad. Hector has looked good in recent games at the RWB position.

Go with 343

Holding Per Mustafi
Hector Ramsey Xhaka Nacho
Özil Welbeck Sanchez

Bench: Ospina, Theo, Giroud, Coq, Niles, Perez and Iwobi.

 

[Brown Gooner]

No fairy tales here lads.

Conte will do the double in his first season. He's a top manager with a top squad. Simple.

Heart says we can pull off an upset but Mind says that We'll lose 0-3. Conte winning the double in his very first season in England would be huge for him.

However I'd love for us to play party poopers. 2005 FA Cup comes to mind when we were without our best CB(Sol) and top striker(Henry)

 

[Makingtrax]

No fairy tales here lads.

Conte will do the double in his first season. He's a top manager with a top squad. Simple.

Yeah, Conte ought to be able to beat a 10th tier European team, with a clueless manager and no centre backs.

But if we actually win this thing . . he must be absolutely sh*te, right?

 

[GDeep™]

Easy Chelsea win. I'm not watching.

 

[RoadrunnerReloaded]

Glad I don't play on a team with any of you defeatists, jeez.

Of course, I expect indignant outrage from everyone predicting defeat if we do indeed lose as well.

Its only 24-29. That's pretty optimistic considering we are 5th and playing the league champs! Personally I have a feeling it will be closer than people think. We are in good form and Chelsea after all their celebrations might have a bit of a come down.

Plus its always better to have low expectations and be happily surprised than great expectations and ending in sadness

 

[IchirotoV2]

I wish we could play;

-------Holding - Per - Mustafi-------
Bellerin - Ox - Xhaka - Monreal
------------- Özil -------Iwobi -----------
----------------- Alexis -----------------

If Per is up for it, with Holding and Mustafi helping him with runners and Ox being disciplined. Ox also being a bit more defensively adept. Ramsey basically plays as a false 9 anyway.

Now that I think about it, who am I kidding, this isn't FIFA....

Nevermind

 

[Ted_Lasso]

I won't be able to watch this, as I'll be on a mountain somewhere around here on Saturday, but I should have internet access to at least check the scores.

My only hope is, besides an Arsenal victory, that the whole vent remains peaceful, with 80k inside the stadium, security should be more than on alert after what happened in Manchester.

Similar situation, the misses is in town, and an obligatory backpacking trip was planned. Was counting on us losing to City in the semi, ffs.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

Its only 24-29. That's pretty optimistic considering we are 5th and playing the league champs! Personally I have a feeling it will be closer than people think. We are in good form and Chelsea after all their celebrations might have a bit of a come down.

Plus its always better to have low expectations and be happily surprised than great expectations and ending in sadness

Tbh honest I didn't even notice the poll I was just reacting to the posts saying we are gonna get trounced.

 

[Trilly]

Yeah, Conte ought to be able to beat a 10th tier European team, with a clueless manager and no centre backs.

But if we actually win this thing . . he must be absolutely sh*te, right?

No agendas or subplots here, they're just a better team with a better manager.

An Arsenal win is an upset, I'm not trying to prove some point. I wish I could choose not to watch this.

 

[gunner4lyfe]

I want us to win it so we don't end up trophy-less but I know he will use it as an excuse to stay and the naive fans will forget everything else that's been happening every season and agree with him.

 

[KROENKE SUCKS]

I want us to win it so we don't end up trophy-less but I know he will use it as an excuse to stay and the naive fans will forget everything else that's been happening every season and agree with him.

Wenger's only been garbage since Kroenke turned up not a coincidence I think.

 

[gunner4lyfe]

Wenger's only been garbage since Kroenke turned up not a coincidence I think.

Kroenke is the manager now? He chooses the lineups and send players out with no instructions on how to play? He organizes the defense and so on? If so, well then, to hell with Kroenke.

 

[kopzilla]

Is Gibbs a doubt too..?

 

[KROENKE SUCKS]

Kroenke is the manager now? He chooses the lineups and send players out with no instructions on how to play? He organizes the defense and so on? If so, well then, to hell with Kroenke.

Its not that the players have no instructions, its that they aren't doing a good job of executing them because of all the uncertainty surrounding the club. There is no real stability in player personnel, which together with our yearly injury crises makes it impossible to create the right system for the team or stick to it.

For example, in 13/14 we had a great system which saw lead the league for most of the season. But then Özil got injured and without a proper back, the system which was built around him crumbled. Did we go all out to get a proper back up for him? No. We were linked with a couple of players with similar skillset but they all eventually ****ed off to different clubs.

In response Wenger switched the system to one with Jack in the middle. After a slightly rocky start, as you will have with any system change, things started picking up, we almost beat league leaders Man City and went on a bit of a run, and then Jack got injured.

So we switched systems again. This time to a 4-3-3. Coquelin, excelled in it but it didn't work for them team as a whole. Eventually we switched back to 4-2-3-1 heading to the new season. But this time playing a very direct style with little intricacy. It worked well for a while we tonked ManUtd 3-0 and led the league for about half of the season. Then Cazorla got injured. With Jack perennially injured and Arteta past it we fell off...again.

You see a pattern building up here. We had a great team in 07-08 but long-term injuries to Eduardo and Rosicky and the sale of Hleb and loss of Flamini forced us to begin anew.

The problem isn't Wenger. The problem is the lack of squad depth and overall quality. Throw the inability of the board to do anything about how refs allow our players to be brutalised, which in turn leads to long term injury crises for us and its a miracle Wenger has kept us top 4 for so long much less won a cup or two.

 

[Makingtrax]

Tbh honest I didn't even notice the poll I was just reacting to the posts saying we are gonna get trounced.

Tbf the poll means nothing. Live odds mean a lot more because bookies put their money where their mouth is.

Odds checker shows that Chelsea are more than twice as likely to win the thing.

Probably about right considering:
Arsenal . . .. 3 starting CBs injured, fan unrest, manager under siege and out of contract, cheaper team
Chelsea . . . no injuries, just won the league, great togetherness at the club, more expensive players

Surprised Chelsea are only 4/9 considering there's a lot of pschology in football.

 

[Makingtrax]

Its not that the players have no instructions, its that they aren't doing a good job of executing them because of all the uncertainty surrounding the club. There is no real stability in player personnel, which together with our yearly injury crises makes it impossible to create the right system for the team or stick to it.

For example, in 13/14 we had a great system which saw lead the league for most of the season. But then Özil got injured and without a proper back, the system which was built around him crumbled. Did we go all out to get a proper back up for him? No. We were linked with a couple of players with similar skillset but they all eventually ****ed off to different clubs.

In response Wenger switched the system to one with Jack in the middle. After a slightly rocky start, as you will have with any system change, things started picking up, we almost beat league leaders Man City and went on a bit of a run, and then Jack got injured.

So we switched systems again. This time to a 4-3-3. Coquelin, excelled in it but it didn't work for them team as a whole. Eventually we switched back to 4-2-3-1 heading to the new season. But this time playing a very direct style with little intricacy. It worked well for a while we tonked ManUtd 3-0 and led the league for about half of the season. Then Cazorla got injured. With Jack perennially injured and Arteta past it we fell off...again.

You see a pattern building up here. We had a great team in 07-08 but long-term injuries to Eduardo and Rosicky and the sale of Hleb and loss of Flamini forced us to begin anew.

The problem isn't Wenger. The problem is the lack of squad depth and overall quality. Throw the inability of the board to do anything about how refs allow our players to be brutalised, which in turn leads to long term injury crises for us and its a miracle Wenger has kept us top 4 for so long much less won a cup or two.

Coming on AM with your logic and sound reasoning.

You won't last long mate.

 

[Mark Tobias]

The problem isn't Wenger. The problem is the lack of squad depth and overall quality. Throw the inability of the board to do anything about how refs allow our players to be brutalised, which in turn leads to long term injury crises for us and its a miracle Wenger has kept us top 4 for so long much less won a cup or two.

Ah god not this "The whole league is against us" drivel again.

 

[Mark Tobias]

Coming on AM with your delusion and excuse making.

You won't last long mate.

Fixed

 

[Van Arshegas]

Easy Chelsea win. I'm not watching.

Baffles me that some on here spend hours each week reading/posting about Arsenal and then don't bother going to/watching the match.

I think playing Monreal in a back 3 would be a mistake. Costa would stick to him in the box and all it would take is a good cross for Costa to inevitably bully Monreal and bury a header (at least once). We seen lesser players do it when Nacho played in a back two. Also, Monreal is better defensively and offensively than Gibbs at LWB.

I think our only options are a back 3 of Holding, Per and Mustafi or a back 2 of Holding and Per/Mustafi.

 

[karl]

I thought Mustafi was out? There are some procedures on head injuries that prohibit return unless all tests are passed. I would still go with a back 3, as even with our best defenders 4231 has been a disaster.