Which is good news in my opinion. With those three in the heart of our team you'd think we will be able to use the ball fairly well and hopefully create a host of chances. In fact it is pretty damn exciting at least in terms of us on the ball. How we do without the ball might be interesting perhaps.
Granit Xhaka has been handed his first start in an Arsenal shirt which is pretty exciting. Let's hope he is sharper than his substitute performance last weekend. As expected Arsene has risked Laurent Koscielny back into the team but his partner is new boy Rob Holding rather than Calum Chambers which is interesting.
So Arsene has put all his trust in young Rob Holding eh? What a way to start your Arsenal career. I must say, I fully expected Monreal to come into the centre back position but hopefully Arsene's faith means that Holding and Chambers have shown good promise behind the scenes at London Colny.
Interestingly though Arsene has made some changes to the starting 11 with Santi Cazorla coming back into the team and almost equally as surprising Arsene has selected Francis Coquelin who has been out of favour for the last few weeks. Jack Wilshere comes back into the team at the expense of Alex Iwobi but I had a feeling that would happen so we should see him starting from the flank.
Didn't see any of that coming that's for sure. Firstly Mesut Ozil is out with a hip injury which is a crying shame. Breaking the assist record will now be quite tricky for the German with only a game to play after this one. I thought Francis Coquelin would almost certainly come into the side but Arsene has gone for a rather attack heavy side today. It looks as if Alex Iwobi will replace Mesut as the playmaker with Danny Welbeck moving wide in his place.
Arsène has put out a strong team for the cup clash with Watford today. With two big games coming up at Barcelona and Everton, I wondered how the manager would approach this game. Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal aside this is about as strong as it gets at present.
It is interesting to note that Gabriel has come straight back into the team in place of Per Mertesacker who made a couple of errors in midweek. The section looks quite front footed both at the back with our recovery pace and Welbeck and Alexis on the flanks, we could be in for quite the high energy, high pressing Arsenal teams that did so well against Manchester United back in October.
Francis Coquelin is finally ready for a Premier League start which will please many Gooners around the world and he starts alongside Aaron Ramsey for the first time since the West Ham defeat back in August. Mathieu Flamini drops down to the bench. Hopefully the midfield have had a few training sessions to gel together. Per Mertesacker also returns to the starting 11 as Gabriel picked up a thigh strain. I wonder how that may affect our approach to the game given Leicester City's counter attacking game plan
I was always going to be a rather interesting team selection today, a real chance to rotate the squad given the returning players we have. We've all been patiently (or not so in some cases) waiting to get a glimpse of new signing Mohammed Elneny, he starts today alongside Francis Coquelin which for me is the most interesting part of the team selection this afternoon. We should have a lot of running, energy and athleticism in that part of the pitch.
As expected Arsene has brought Mesut Özil back into the starting line up and Alexis Sanchez back to the squad by making him an option from the bench. Arsene has been very cautious about rushing him too quickly so a starting place was always pretty unlikely. New signing Elneny also keeps his spot on the bench. Oxlade-Chamberlain is the one to make way for Özil today and will join Alexis on the bench. I was hoping to see Tomas Rosicky in the squad but perhaps it is a tad too soon for him also. Club captain Mikel Arteta cannot get into the squad.