A cup exit, especially in a winnable competition, is always going to be disappointing. Some will try and play it off as ok as it's the 'least important' of the competitions we're in this season but I can't get on board with that attitude. If we're already struggling in the league cup, what hope for the tougher tests to come? They say winning is a habit and all that so writing off matches/cups etc is surely not something we should be doing.

It is always difficult to predict who will play in these games and there is usually a surprise or two. We got that surprise as Jack Wilshere and Alexis Sanchez are set to start to add some quality to a rather mix and match team. Calum Chambers continues in the defence with a host of young players around him in front of new guy David Ospina.

I have a Diaby theory, hear me out. If Abou Diaby plays as the deepest midfielder rather than his usual box to box then Arsène is grooming away in the hope that he can stay fit. The only possible available spot in our first team would be Arteta's role, right? So gradually bringing him back slowly and playing him as the defensive midfielder when Flamini and potentially Coquelin are on the pitch tells me that Arsène is planning something. If he plays box to box then maybe, just maybe Abou is playing out his final few months with us. We know how much Arsène loves a bit of Abou (and rightly so in my opinion) so I wouldn't be so sure.

Borussia Dortmund was disappointing to say the least. They suffered a 2-0 defeat, although it could quite easily been a lot worse. Their star striker, Danny Welbeck, failed to score, despite numerous opportunities to do so, and they don’t seem to be learning from previous games. Mesut Özil has endured a lot of criticism in England already, but following Arsenal’s poor performance in Dortmund, he was singled out for a lot of the post-game criticism. German newspaper, Bild, gave him

However, beyond the Emirates pitch becoming centre-stage for Alexis’ salsa show, it is his fiery tenacious side that has really hit it off with the fans. Relentless pressure on the opponent and his unfaltering energy and determination to have the ball as much as possible has started to somewhat set a tone amongst this year’s Arsenal side. This Alexis osmosis was most evident at the second leg vs Besiktas when, with Alexis leading the line by example, the whole team adopted a fighting spirit in order to see the game out.

The game was all over after a five minute spell starting in the 32nd minute. We've all been looking forward to the quick man playing with Mesut Özil but I guess we were not expecting a role reversal. Danny Welbeck playing the role of chief playmaker with Mesut Özil playing the part as clinical speedy striker. The weight of Welbeck's pass was impressive and the way Özil composed himself, assessed his options before stroking into the back of the net was lovely to see from a player who has been under huge pressure. A minute or so later, Arsenal were combining outside the Villa penalty area, Ramsey found Özil pealing away to the left hand side, you know the place, the area where he shouldn't be standing and the German wrapped the ball

The fact you and I are both unsure is a good thing - I don't remember us ever having a midfield as flexible as the one we have right now - the party line will be that Ozil was better in the centre, but the heat maps showed him spending a lot of time on the left anyway. With the Ox and Cazorla both happy going wide or coming inside, I saw us coming at Villa like a swarm of flies, and they didn't know which way to swat. I bet you could capture plenty of freeze frames where it looked like either formation

Not much in the way of tinkering today from Arsene Wenger. Jack Wilshere who took a kick to his ankle in midweek is on the bench alongside Abou Diaby as Santi Cazorla comes in to replace him. Santi played in the middle with Özil wide in our CL qualifer so I expect that to be the case today. We have zero defenders on the bench so we have to hope that we avoid any defensive injuries today.

We know that Arsène doesn't tend to stray too far away from his starting 11 if fit but when they've played a lot of high energy games in a short space of time he usually always rotates the squad somewhat. I full expect to see that rotation take place this afternoon. We have at least three players who could be considered as first team players who should be as fit and fresh as a fiddle. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tomas Rosicky and Santi Cazorla will be hopeful to get a rare start this season. I'd be very surprised if none of those players started today. Personally I'd take Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Özil out of the firing line. It was those two players who were sacrificed when Arsène made his first substitutions in Germany so that might be an indication as to what Arsène might do. Santi Cazorla is higher up Arsène's pecking order than Tomas Rosicky but I think the latter would be a better fit if replacing Rambo. Rosicky is very good at pressing up the pitch and we could do with that today.

Mesut Ozil for me is the best number 10 in the world, his eye for a defence cutting pass is 2nd to none and I'm at a loss to why he is on the left/right. Now I know that our wide players have freedom to drift into the centre to overload that area but it means that he gets on the ball later in the play and by then the defence is deeper and the run by our striker has finished. It also means he is on the ball less and therefore has less of an effect on the game. Another strength of his, is the ability to