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West Brom (a) Confirmed Line Up: Welbeck partners Giroud while Kos returns
Wow, didn't see that one coming. Arsene has rotated the team today but the big surprise is the selection of both Danny Welbeck and Oliver Giroud. It's even more of a surprise given that Alexis is one of the wide players. You'd imagine that Aaron Ramsey will be playing a rather disciplined role deeper today. Especially as we don't have the distribution of Mikel Arteta available. Both Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have been rested to the bench.
West Brom (a) Thoughts & Line Up: Welbeck or Giroud? & Consistency the aim of the game
Why I recommended Winston Reid to Arsenal
Arsenal Vision Post Match Podcast – EP2: Arsenal 2 Borussia Dortmund 0
Borussia Dortmund (h) Arsenal’s new blueprint better delivered late than never
What was reassuring to see was our response to that goal. We suddenly became streetwise and sensible in our defending. Pressing at the right time and dropping off when required. Remember this is the same defenders that had conceded poor goals at Swansea only a few weeks ago. I am still convinced that it was the team defensive plan that was the issue and not the individuals in the team. Hopefully we are now heading in the right direction, maybe some painful experiences have lead to this but if we can improve at both ends of the pitch then it can only be a good thing
Borussia Dortmund (h) “A big scalp is what the players needed” – Q&A
Arteta has been fantastic in the past two games, both on the ball, as ever, but defensively, he's really been good. I think we really miss his organising skills; Flamini, for all his pointing, just doesn't glue the side together in the same way, and just isn't very good on the ball. I don't think Arteta can play more than once a week at this point, and I really think getting a defensive midfielder that can pass is the most
Borussia Dortmund (h) Confirmed Line Up: Yaya in Welbeck out & Koscielny back
Koscielny is back in the squad but not in the first team just yet. He takes his place on the Arsenal bench with forgotten men Tomas Rosicky, Lukas Podolski and Joel Campbell. Yaya Sanogo claims his first start since Danny Welbeck signed at the end of the transfer window. Welbeck is not in the squad at all.
Borussia Dortmund (h) Thoughts & Line Up: Sanogo for Welbeck, Kos returns & Rosicky
I wouldn't be surprised to see a change or two. Hang on, I got this far without mentioning the return of Laurent Koscielny which I found somewhat surprising. Happy surprised of course. I thought it was only a few days ago when we were told there was no date scheduled for his return and here he is. Nacho Monreal has acquitted himself very well in the Frenchman's absence but Koscielny is one of our best players and on top of that I am hoping that his understanding with Per Mertesacker can lift the German's game. Hopefully we don't have to wait too long before Mathieu Debuchy is back alongside him on the right side of the Arsenal defence.
Arsenal’s Underappreciated Scapegoats
In a way, it’s strange that ‘flat track bully’ is seen as such a derogatory term in football. After all, games that a ‘flat-track bullying’ Arsenal would win account for 96 points in the league! A key reason for Arsenal’s season by season increase in total league points over the last few seasons has been our newfound ability to knock down the lesser teams, home and away. And central to that has been Olivier Giroud. With Giroud on the pitch, suddenly the opposition couldn’t rely on two deep-lying banks of 4 to keep Arsenal out of danger areas. Nor could their centre backs out-muscle and bully our man in the box. And no longer did we need to rely solely on pretty passing patterns. Arsenal had a ‘plan B’, a direct route to goal when facing packed defences or pushing for last minute goals. Furthermore, our ‘plan A’ was provided with an impressively solid fulcrum around which our smaller, technical players could weave those pretty patterns. He was also, a lot like Drogba at Chelsea, a