Arsenal travel to Germany to play Borussia Dortmund in their first Champions League game on Tuesday evening. After a physically demanding game against Manchester City, and an away trip to on-form Aston Villa coming up, Arsenal need to rotate.
With Welbeck’s arrival and the clubs injury list shrinking, the Gunners have a variety of options on how to tackle this fixture, especially in midfield. Here’s four changes I would make from the 2-2 draw with Manchester City.
Mikel Arteta for Mathieu Flamini
Arsenal’s French midfielder was picked on Saturday to plug the hole between Arsenal’s defence and midfield. His top level quality was once again exposed, and he could be held responsible for both of Manchester City’s goals.
Mikel Arteta is far from the perfect solution, in my opinion Arsenal should have signed a world class defensive midfielder in the summer. They didn’t and we have to go until at least January with this duo. For me Arteta is the better player.
His confident passing and cool head is more suited to this tie than Flamini.
Santi Cazorla for Aaron Ramsey
Ramsey saved Arsenal in the first two Premier League games this season with late goals, but his poor performances cannot be ignored.
Mesut Ozil is picking up the critics, but Ramsey has failed to replicate his form of last season as yet. After picking up a knock for Wales, perhaps he needs to be rested for this fixture and come back against Aston Villa on Saturday.
Santi Cazorla was rested for the whole game on Saturday and so, his freshness will be welcomed, he’s a pretty good player too. In this 4-1-4-1 formation which Arsenal are currently playing in, Cazorla will slot into Ramsey’s central role.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for Mesut Ozil
Ozil was played on the left wing again on Saturday, and he didn’t impress. He wasn’t awful but he was once again far from his best.
Chamberlain’s pace and enthusiasm will be welcomed on the left hand side.
He’s more likely to track back and his pace will be vital for the counter attack. Along with Alexis on the right hand side, this could be a very dangerous component to Arsenal’s play.
Calum Chambers for Mathieu Debuchy
This change is a forced one. Debuchy landed awkwardly on Saturday and could be out for up to two months. Chambers will be the natural replacement, but with numbers in defence falling, expect 19-year-old Hector Bellerin to at least feature on the bench.
The Gunners need to be careful now, as their lack of depth in defence could be horribly exposed with one more injury.
I have faith in Chambers, but another high profile game will provide yet another big test for the teenager. Let’s hope he continues to impress.
Source: Metro UK
No comments:
Post a Comment