In today's Arsenal Vision Post Match Podcast: Elliot (@YankeeGunner), Clive (@Clivepafc) and Tim (@Stillberto) talk North London Derby, Granit Xhaka’s defensive improvement, replacing Hector Bellerin, risking Alexis Sanchez and plenty more in this weeks Arsenal Vision podcast
Without Sanchez and with Iwobi struggling in his current capacity, Arsene may choose to adapt his preferred starting eleven and include the hot and cold Oxlade Chamberlain in place of the young Nigerian. Despite the England manager being a firm admirer of Oxlade Chamberlain, the wide man has been left at home by Gareth Southgate. Recent ups and downs have probably cost him a place in this current England squad but the Ox’s capacity for the unpredictable is akin to Sanchez’s explosiveness. Both players, to their credit boast an ability to beat a man
Unfortunately we lacked the sharpness of our spanking of Chelsea or a few other high tempo home games we’ve played in this season. It’s difficult to put your finger on why this is but I wonder if rotation played it’s part a little. I mean you cannot really win can you? You play your players too much and tiredness can be used as an excuse or you bring in too many fresh faces at once and perhaps those players are not ready to play with the same intensity, sharpness and fluidity of a team that perhaps has played 2-3 games of football in a row
Anyway we have some players to add back to the squad after injury and knocks which is great. I think Arsene has been juggling his squad rather nicely in this regard. Holding players back until the right moment and I think he has done that this time with the likes of Theo Walcott, Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal. He had done the same with Aaron Ramsey and Oliver Giroud before them, keeping them away for a little longer than perhaps they would have wanted but making sure they could (hopefully) make a lasting impact rather than break down trying to rush them back in.
In today's Arsenal Vision Post Match Podcast: Elliot (@YankeeGunner), (@PoznanInMyPants) and Tim (@Stillberto) talk about the thrilling 3-2 away victory against Ludogorets in the Champions League. Talking points include the magical Mesut goal, the Oliver Giroud dynamic and plenty more in this weeks Arsenal Vision podcast
Time is ticking down, our mix and match team were looking a little tired in the second half as Arsene alluded to post match and dropped points were looking likely until a wonderful sequence of events. Mesut Ozil should be thanking Oliver Giroud as well as Mohamed Elneny for the assist as the big Frenchman showed some real battling qualities to sprint back and launch himself at the Ludogorets player who would have been the clear favourite to move the ball onto his team mate but Giroud showed the kind of fight we all appreciate from Alexis Sanchez. Giroud appeared out of nowhere to dispossess the player and Elneny took over. Spotting Ozil’s run which unfortunately I haven’t been able to see in it’s entirety because of the camera position. The Ludogorets keeper came racing out to meet the ball and Ozil
It is going to be very interesting to see what Arsene does with the line up tonight. Theo Walcott, Nacho Monreal, Hector Bellerin and Santi Cazorla will be left behind due to injury or knocks (that’s probably the same thing) so we are going to witness some degree of rotation anyway. Oliver Giroud sat alongside Arsene Wenger at the pre match presser yesterday and I swear Giroud indicated that he would be playing tonight, or perhaps I just read more into something that meant very little. That said, how many times has an Arsenal player sat alongside Arsene pre match and not started the following day