EPL | Swansea vs Arsenal | 28/09/13 | 5:30PM

[Caz19]

i think its unlikely that bellerin would make his league debut away to swansea and start. that is a huge ask of him.

i think a 4-3-2-1 would maybe be more sensible if we dont want to start monreal and gnabry

arteta-flamini-ramsey
wilshere-Özil
giroud

no width in that team though, apart from what the fullbacks offer, which is a shade north of 0

Gibbs offers plenty of width. I've been very impressed by his attacking play. Sagna is an issue since he offers nothing in attack...which is why it might be better to start Jenkinson, not as good defending but at least he's quick and a good crosser. Defending wouldn't be to much of a problem though with that team. I can't see anybody scoring against us from open play when we have a midfield pivot of Arteta-Flamini-Ramsey.

 

[cannonade]

Ponts:
-This is Arsenal, not Chelsea (under Mourinho), hence we will never play a 4-3-2-1. This is Wenger, he never changes formations.
-We are winning with this group, there will be minimal changes in players and only because of injuries.
-For all these years, playing him all over the "shop", in all of his crap-ass form, Wenger stuck with Ramsey. The same will happen with Jack.
-We'll grind these games out until all of our guns are back. it's what we're good at.

 

[blaze_of_glory]

I think we'll line up very much like our last EPL game, though maybe Gnabry will be dropped with Özil moving wide and Arteta coming into the midfield like some people have been suggesting.

We're on an incredible run, especially away from home and I expect us to continue it. Don't think our guys even bat an eye going anywhere at this point and we should be too much for Swansea to handle, provided we stay smart at the back.

 

[yuvken]

You're right, Blaze, but we still have off periods sometimes, both as a team and individually. At times we don't suffer from these (in many cases we're just lucky) but in others we make our lives difficult. Going to a tough place is where this is put to the test. If we have another blip, we might not be so lucky. We need to be really turned on going there, or, despite us being favs (and I certainly agree with that), we could even lose a game like that. If we had the margins of the normal bench, if two or even three individuals have an off day, we can compensate and keep the team on their high, and overcome blips within a game. But we don't have those margins now.
If we go there and win it would be one of our best wins this year (and probably the last tough game without a bench, which makes it even more important to be up for it on Saturday).

BTW, I don't see Gnabry starting this. The Flamini Ramsey
Arteta
thought is interesting, though with Ramsey and Art trading places it still is interesting (don't think we need to be so traumatized by the "Ramsey at AM" option, because it's not last year's reality. with both Jack and the wizard on the wings cutting inside and dishing them at will, and with Rambo just running the office and not necessarily playing as a clear AM, and with Art more free to roam forward and perhaps help in delivery, this looks nicer to me than playing wilshere and Gnabry on the wings. We need quality on the field, and we can have it this way without hampering the structure and roles too much. Though for each one you can say something like "ideally I'd play him in a different position", no one here plays strictly out of position. And if Flamini Art works, we could see some damage done by the relatively free Wilshere-Ramsey-oz unit, feeding the big guy.

 

[Caz19]

Swansea will be more tired than us. Unlike us, they put out a fairly strong side last night in the league cup (by no means their strongest side, since some players like Michu were rested) but it still had some first team regulars like Bony,De Guzman,Shelvey,Britton. On the other hand the only player who started for us last night that will probably play again on the weekend is Mertesacker. Hopefully this works in our favor and gives us an advantage.

They lost 3-1 by the way, to Birmingham City.

 

[yuvken]

Did they? I thought they played their second string, and Bony-Willy?

And you don't see Arteta playing? he did play a lot yesterday and just returned.
I'd still like to see him start, and maybe replaced after 60? not sure.

 

[boyinneedofhumor]

Team news: Who's fit to face Swansea
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/team-news-who-s-fit-to-face-swansea-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archiv ... e-swansea-</a>

A quick check - last update on Arteta is a cramp, correct? Coupled with Flamini's shoulder discomfort?
Wonder how long that'll take.

 

[Caz19]

Did they? I thought they played their second string, and Bony-Willy?

And you don't see Arteta playing? he did play a lot yesterday and just returned.
I'd still like to see him start, and maybe replaced after 60? not sure.

Well, as I said it's pretty much a second string other then 4-5 players who are regular starters which I mentioned.

And I don't think Arteta will play for fatigue. Just came back from injury and he played almost 100 minutes last night. Plus, Flamini has played very well so there's no need to run Arteta into the ground so quickly.

 

[Caz19]

By the way, am I the only one annoyed at the fact that our club is doing literally everything possible to promote the yellow away kit? Looks like we'll be playing again with it on Saturday <a class="postlink" href="http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/49646/swansea-city-v-arsenal-matchday-strips" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archiv ... day-strips</a>" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I mean...it's an "okay" kit in my opinion, but our home kit is much nicer, yet still we choose to play every single away match in the yellow kit, even though we could easily play in our red one. I understand if we're against another team with a red kit, but Swansea wear an all white kit.

Heck, we even played both games in the Emirates Cup in our yellow kit...and we were the hosts FFS. Shows me the club is desperate to make more money by trying to get us to buy the newer and therefore more expensive kit. Don't be surprised to see us playing home matches in the away kit again.

 

[silent_shadow]

I'd go with Nacho at LW and Jack on the right

 

[oh to be a goon]

Nacho just played 120 minutes, do you really think he will have the required energy to play this game properly?

 

[silent_shadow]

So did Gnabry and Ryo. Not like we're full of options. Unless he's a player with particularly poor fitness I expect him to be able to do a decent job for 60 minutes.

 

[TheLoneFalcon]

By the way, am I the only one annoyed at the fact that our club is doing literally everything possible to promote the yellow away kit? Looks like we'll be playing again with it on Saturday <a class="postlink" href="http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/49646/swansea-city-v-arsenal-matchday-strips" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archiv ... day-strips</a>" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I mean...it's an "okay" kit in my opinion, but our home kit is much nicer, yet still we choose to play every single away match in the yellow kit, even though we could easily play in our red one. I understand if we're against another team with a red kit, but Swansea wear an all white kit.

Heck, we even played both games in the Emirates Cup in our yellow kit...and we were the hosts FFS. Shows me the club is desperate to make more money by trying to get us to buy the newer and therefore more expensive kit. Don't be surprised to see us playing home matches in the away kit again.

We could play every game in that kit and I'd still love it.

 

[arsenallegends]

Players between 18-20 recover very quickly; Ryo will be ok to contribute.
Having said I agree with those that selected Bellerin.

Where's Yennaris? I'd love to see him slot in midfield v Chelsea.

 

[cannonade]

By the way, am I the only one annoyed at the fact that our club is doing literally everything possible to promote the yellow away kit? Looks like we'll be playing again with it on Saturday <a class="postlink" href="http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/49646/swansea-city-v-arsenal-matchday-strips" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archiv ... day-strips</a>" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I mean...it's an "okay" kit in my opinion, but our home kit is much nicer, yet still we choose to play every single away match in the yellow kit, even though we could easily play in our red one. I understand if we're against another team with a red kit, but Swansea wear an all white kit.

Heck, we even played both games in the Emirates Cup in our yellow kit...and we were the hosts FFS. Shows me the club is desperate to make more money by trying to get us to buy the newer and therefore more expensive kit. Don't be surprised to see us playing home matches in the away kit again.

Probably to make up for last year's away kit failure. Think sales were pretty poor so they've got some catching up to do.

That, and it's a great kit.

 

[ModelGooner]

Win, I don't care how ugly. This is our year.

 

[arsmile]

the players should come from

snez
sagna
mert
kos
gibbs
arteta
flamini
jack
Özil
aaron
giroud



we've already effed off the left wing- let's do it to the right too

I'd trust jack/mezut/aaron to deal with those three positions.


not the ideal balance but it is our best players.

 

[Floating]

Where's Yennaris? I'd love to see him slot in midfield v Chelsea.

On loan.

 

[Vela]

Yennaris is injured not on loan.

-------------Szczesny
Sagna--Mertesacker-----Kos--Gibbs
-------Flamini--------Ramsey
Wilshere-------Özil------Monreal
--------------Giroud

Bench - Fabianski, Jenkinson, Verm, Arteta, Gnabry, Ryo, Bendtner.

 

[tap-in]

Yennaris is injured not on loan.

-------------Szczesny
Sagna--Mertesacker-----Kos--Gibbs
-------Flamini--------Ramsey
Wilshere-------Özil------Monreal
--------------Giroud

Bench - Fabianski, Jenkinson, Verm, Arteta, Gnabry, Ryo, Bendtner.

I did wonder why Yennaris wasn't in the Cocup squad. I like him and thought we would see a bit more of him this year.

As for the team, I woulld keep Wilshere on the left, also Monreal played yesterday. Belerin possibly on the right or why not consider Jenks? He loves to get forward and with Sagna behind him he wont have to dash back. I also like the 4,3,2,1 xmas tree that was posted earlier.