Arsene has gone for a midfield heavy looking side as Danny Welbeck takes his place on the bench while Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey look set to play ahead of Francis Coquelin with Mesut Özil likely to start from a wide position. Arsenal were well and truly dominated at Anfield earlier in the season so Arsene could well be trying to fight back for some of the ball.
So changes have been made to the team but not exactly what I was expecting. Alexis Sanchez remains in the team which is somewhat of a surprise given his recent showings. Watch him pull out a man of the match performance now. Mesut Özil has not traveled with the squad so either he is being rested or he is ill. Theo Walcott is still left on the bench so the writing looks very much on the wall for his future.
So only a few changes to the team that defeated West Ham 3-0 at the weekend. Needless to say, the same scoreline would do rather nicely this evening but the job will be a lot more difficult against a team that does not concede many goals at the best of times, let alone when they are 3-1 up from the first leg.
Theo Walcott has finally nudged his way back into Arsene's starting 11 for the 3pm kick off vs West Ham. Arsene has rotated his team a little bringing in Calum Chambers for Hector Bellerin, Aaron Ramsey slots in alongside Coquelin so Santi Cazorla rests to the bench. That change may have allowed Arsene to give wide men Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott a rare chance together on the flanks. Ramsey perhaps gives us that defensive insurance as our two wide forwards have a habit of
Nacho Monreal comes back into the team ahead of Kieran Gibbs which is a slight surprise given Gibbs performance against QPR. Szczesny being the cup keeper comes back into the team but the excitement comes a little further forward. Alexis Sanchez replaces Giroud as our centre forward with the Frenchman dropping down to the bench. Surely that is due to injury but that is a big surprise. Oxlade-Chamberlain has come back into the team which shows a lot of faith in him. Danny Welbeck starts from the left.
Tonight it is Laurent Koscielny's turn to rest down to the bench so Per Mertesacker comes back into the team to partner Gabriel for the first time. Tomas Rosicky's charging around the pitch cameo against Everton has earned him a start ahead of a more natural wide forward. Perhaps Özil will be the one to move to the left to give us some more strength in the middle. Whichever way those two start, I'm sure there will be plenty of in game rotation
Arsène has rotated the team but not as much as perhaps we would have expected. The surprise story is that Theo Walcott has failed to start in the last three games in a row and will continue to bide his time on the bench. The other big news is that Gabriel has come into the team at the expense of Per Mertesacker, so Santi Cazorla will wear the captains armband.
Arsene Wenger looks to be going for goals tonight with a rather attacking line up. Both Kieran Gibbs and Hector Bellerin are included in the starting line up to add width and pace. Danny Welbeck has once again been preferred to Theo Walcott which implies that we will witness another 90 minutes of high pressing from Arsenal
Arsene has kept faith with the attacking team that brushed aside Middlesbrough last weekend. Danny Welbeck keeps his place in the side ahead of Theo Walcott which is very interesting. Francis Coquelin comes back into the team ahead of Mathieu Flamini so it will be interesting to see how the team look with the younger Frenchman in the side
New boy Gabriel makes his Arsenal debut this afternoon as vice captain Per Mertesacker is rested to the bench. So the Brazilian will be partnered alongside Laurent Koscielny. It is an interesting partnership as both players are supposed to be similar in style. Many have had worries that they might not be able to function alongside each other due to the past relationship between Koscielny and Vermaelen. But I tend to believe the latter just was not as good at defending as we all hoped rather than an issue of chemistry, So today's partnership looks very interesting. They have not played together in a game so we will have to hope the gel and gel fast.