Arsene Wenger has revealed the latest team news ahead of tomorrow’s game against Sunderland in the Premier League.
Kieran Gibbs is out having picked up and injury midweek, while Mikel Arteta is available again having missed the Champions League clash because of suspension.
The boss said that after the tiring display against Bayern, “There will certainly be changes. How many? I don’t know yet.”
Arteta is the only player back in the squad which means Thomas Vermaelen remains sidelined with a calf problem that he picked up in training just before the Southampton game.
It means Mertesacker and Koscielny will continue at centre-half, although there could be recalls for Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud, while Santi Cazorla will be fresh having been taken off before half-time on Wednesday.
He also hinted that he might rest Mesut Ozil, saying, “At the moment we have to let him recover from missing the penalty.”
so yaya’s a no go for sunderland?
YaYa play only in big games..:P
i laughed more than i should have at this^^
Brilliant pun, mate!!
ah had loads of those in my head, ha but yours is better
Would be great if we could play Togo, but maybe he would be touch and go.
“At the moment we have to let him recover from missing the penalty.”
He has a way woth words, doesn’t he?
I look forward to the Arsenal.com injury news update.
Mesut Ozil is sidelined for three weeks with ‘Disappointment’.
Then two weeks later Ozil suffers a 4 week setback with ‘cruciate depression’. However, a week later: GOOD NEWS! Ozil flies out to see a penalty expert back home in Germany and he steps up his recovery to match fitness. Instagrams a picture of his feet saying: “These legs will be cunting in spot kicks in no time!”
I think Yaya would be good against Sunderland, he’s got that certain amount of horribleness about him which I’m really quite pleased to see, we’re lacking that as a team sometimes. It would be good for him to put some of that in the faces of the Sunderland centre backs like he did against Ager last week.
It’s interesting that Yaya is pretty decent up to the moment when he has to hit the ball towards a goal, then his touch let’s him down. Surprising how after 2 good games he has earned the respect from us although we have made fun of him for the past 4 months.
I don’t think anyone’s made fun of him personally, just the situation.
I will reserve judgement on his football credentials until we’ve seen a lot more of him but for now I am pleased with his attitude and general persona on the pitch, he’s definitely got something about him
Speak for yourself Chaplin35. You’ve probably written off Mesut too…
@Chaplin35- You say that he’s good up to when he has to hit the ball, but for the first goal against Liverpool he controlled the ball excellently well and his shot was headed for goal but for a timely block by Gerrard. He’s rough but what we seen so far, there are basis for him to become much better. lest we forget he’s just 20!
i think Özil needs a bit of a breather.. the lad’s been playing pretty much every minute since he joined us. we have enough quality in the team to win games like these without our star man..
My team: szez, sagna, per, kos, nacho, arteta, flamini, poldi, santi, rosicky, giroud/sanogo
I think part of continuing with Ozil is as a vote of confidence more than anything else, Wenger knows the prevailing wind and so does Mesut, he’s taking some criticism which would only intensify if he was ‘dropped’ or rested but I think quite a few of the players from Bayern will be rested, probably including him.
the fact that Ozil had to apologise for missing a penalty is fucking shameful from our fans. I admit he’s a bit of liability defensively but its like asking RVP or Mata to defend. Its not their game. It was good to see the people on my TL tweeting him support.
Brilliantly said, it was shameful the way fans have been reacting. They wanted to rip Ramsey’s head off last season and they even booed off Eboue that time for having a bad game.
So why did he take it in the first place?
Because he was the one that had the marbles to do it. I do wish we had a few more chomping to step up.
ohh, the picture just tells me that that hopeless-un-brain-midfielder Ramsey is coming back very soon, so, more humble kind of pies for me I would say.
What are you talking about?
That’s a pun guys take it easy,haven’t u heard of “SARCASM”.Read it again………………………………….Bad pun thumbs down.
We need six points from Sunderland and Stoke – we can deal with Munich (a) later.
If Ozil’s rested, I can see Wenger mentioning the fact that he ran miles on Wednesday night as well…
Team selection for the Sunderland game should be
————-[Sczcesny]
Sagna—Mertesacker–Koscielney–Monreal
———-Flamini—-Arteta——-
Chamberlain–Cazorla—–Rosicky
———— Giroud ————–
Wenger
“It’s difficult to adjust to playing in three competitions and physically it’s very demanding.”
£120 mill available with more funds set to be added in the summer, not really a very good excuse
Your opinion and gripe don’t actually tally up with each other.
Sack him, for the love of everything that’s wholly and for all the battleships.
Think of the children!
We could buy three strikers, four CB’s, and throw in a couple of DM’s and Ozil would still be knackered.
To clarify, I meant Ozil likely needs a rest. Throwing money around on other positions doesn’t help that.
I’d like Ozil to have a breather anyway. Even if his frame of mind was alright he does need a rest ahead of our next tough run in. Cazorla will be fresh enough to fill in. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a front three of Podolski, Giroud and Gnabry either.
Get well soon Welsh God.
I hope one day there will be a statue of you too outside the Emirates.
Szcz, Sagna, Per, Kos, Mon, Arteta, Oxi, Poldi, Rosicky, Santi, Giroo
Resting Ozil and Flams for obvious reasons, ran a lot on Munich, plus need Flams against Stoke away more.
Good enough to get the 3 points, hope Poldi scores too.
I miss Welsh Jesus!
Yes ozil need to rest
About time Poldi got back in, unless him & the gaffer have a dispute on the training ground I honestly think he’s been treated poorly. Any game he’s played out wide I though he’s had a good game in
I agree completely. He’s remained very positive and professional though, so hopefully he’ll get a fair chance over several matches to prove his worth. I’d love to see him start both the Sunderland and Stoke matches.
For the aforementioned matches I will be using Ryo for his blistering pace and general youthfulness.
I Agree, he has earned a place in the team in my opinion. No one scores more than Poldi either considering minutes played. So especially with both Ramsey and Waocott out, i think he ought to be the first name on the team sheet these days.
If he do not get to play more the remainder of this season, i honestly hope he gets a New club in the summer whom appreciate him more, Because i think he has been treated with disrespect at Arsenal this season.
Come on Wenger , We are wasting one of the best finishers the game has ever seen on the Bench. please play him tomorrow.
Ozil needs to be rested indeed, the guy is tired and becoming lazy and podolski needs some playing time as well.
Özil is top notch anyday anytime. …he needs a breather
I hope we are not going to use Gnabry a bit more often. Imagine both he and the Ox hiitting defences from both sides.
In our last four premiership games at home we have failed to score in the first half. We need to come out of the tracks fast tomorrow. But you can bet Poyet willl tell Adam Johnson to go at Monreal big time.
Correction. I mean’t to say i hope we ARE going to use Gnabry a bit more often.
I worry that the next time we see the ‘real’ Özil will be in Brazil.
If he keeps playing like this he won’t make Brasil!
The whole resting Özil thing is a double edged sword. He really does need a rest (mentally more than anything) but if he is everyone will still criticized him!
If we start the game the same way we did against Bayern, then it’ll be game over by half time as Sunderland won’t be able to cope.
The fact remains the above speakers are clinicals with their tuts, it is always nice to never undermine this small teams and play fresher legs 2mao! May God uplift Arsenal Great Gunners!
Any update on Gibbs? Anyone know what’s wrong with him?
He’s injured.
Ozil is becoming like a arshavin..to me if he doesnt want to defend,he shld work on his shooting.then we can play him higher upfront.but apparently the only thing he does now is keeping possession and getting heavily tackled by opposition..atm i rather play wilshere or rosicky or santi as our number 10.and i nv understood why rosicky is not in our starting 11 more regularly.his ball control and passing technics are pretty legendary.
Mesut-Mesut,
you’re sinking
like
Girou-d.
its an obvious point being involved in 3 comps then you need to change and refresh the squad, our trouble is the squad is so light and long term missing players like Theo who is a game changer and makes other teams think tactically because of his pace, and Diaby (who) wenger hoping too long now he will fully recover, another reason he never spent last year in the summer, Gnarby should start and why not start sanogo raw yes but gives youth expresses to do well for the team and has height. poldi on the left with TR and… Read more »
Whoever starts anywhere I don’t mind but my main worry is on left back where I think Monreal will be employed. Cmon the lad is useless and tell u what boy Adam Johnson is gonna have a party time.
Have you actually watched monreal play?
And who else would you have for a 2nd choice lb. He is definitely the best 2nd choice lb in the premier league.
And personally, for certain games, I would prefer him over gibbs
To those criticising Mesut Ozil
If you are just a troll
Go do something more meaningful
Life is too short
To waste on this site for you
If you support Arsenal
Be ashamed
If Ozil not playing…Im not watching this game…in protest!! Please people, he earn the penalty himself from a gd move to force boateng to commit the foul. I cant rember whether boateng was booled for that foul or not. But he should have!! Anw dont blame him for the defeat because of the penalty miss. We were playin one whole half with 10 men….and against the best team in the world….for God’s sake, what do you expect the result will be? We were already 1-0 down after the red card. It was a mountain to climb from that onwards. My… Read more »
Yes we miss Walcott and Ramsey but our squad isn’t too thin poldi Rosicky are rotting on e bench. Cazorla plays central 2 give ozil a breather and one of them comes in. We will still be good enough to beat other smaller teams.
My team 4 sunderland.
Szczsney
Sagna,boss,per,monreal
Arteta,flamini
Gnarby,cazorla,poldi
Giroud
Forget about Giroud!! Sanogo the man now.
I still think we need to reconsider having big strikers up top with the kind of football we play. We dont cross all that much, and when we do its mostly low crosses to feet. I feel we would be better off with a pacy agile striker whith clever movement and can do some runs. This would give Ozil something to work with atleast. I dont see why a team that love to play speed football should have slow holding up the ball strikers. It tends to just slow down our attack. Instead of a striker with his back to… Read more »
You mean like Theo? But for his injury, we’d have the best of both worlds. Ox in his pos in the meanwhile is no bad option, but I’d still like to see another pacy attacker on the left as well. Girouds goals come from Theo at the byline and Poldi.
Completely agree- we are best with the option of pace in behind, somehow.
defintely we need a Suarez/Aguero type striker in our squad
Wouldn’t mind seeing a midfield that contains the following….
– Arteta – Rosicky –
Gnabry – Cazorla – Podolski
And yours truly up front. I would run riot, probably score with my first touch from kick off and over the space of the next 3 mins 25 seconds scoring another two… Would be screwed if we didn’t win the coin toss though.
That isn’t a bad looking midfield. Always thought Rosicky might be good filling in next to Arteta or Flamini because he moves us forward quickly and is competitive. Some pace definitely needed out wide and with the Ox knackered, makes sense to unleash the Gnabry. Would really like to see Podolski start and scoring. Santi is suited for the hole just behind Giroud. That said not sure about all this stuff about Ozil needing time to get over the penalty or Giroud needing time for his infidelity. The best way to respond IMO is to play. We must not falter… Read more »
I think Wenger wouldn’t have a problem with putting Rosicky beside Arteta, if Rosicky didnt have those occasional bad passes and slide challenges.
Thierry says: “we can still winthe title”
Gunner for life
It sounds as if the knock that Ox picked up vs Bayern is not going to keep him out, but even with him in the squad Wenger should not start him after two tough matches in the last week already for him. We certainly need him out there, but he is still just returning from a long term injury and when you look at the injury history that our other young players have had (often the result of too many games) Wenger really needs to be careful with him.
I hope Podolski is going to be used more as the season approaches the end, similar to how Rosicky & Benayoun were last two seasons
Overall the worst thing about DEATHRUN1 has to be the fact that it’s brought all the cretins and doomers back in a big way.
We have more than enough to get 3 points at home to Sunderland this weekend. Support the team!
Last Death Run (Number 2), it was the defeat to United to me that was most disappointing. I had the feeling we would not have enough for the CL tie so that was somewhat expected. The Liverpool trashing was poor but they were in top form. United were a team for the taking and we were at home so it was extremely vexing we didn’t take them to the cleaners. Sunderland will be a perfect way for us to get back to our consistent winning ways and apply pressure back at Chelsea (and City). if we win, have a feeling… Read more »
Giroud needs a big game today if he starts. I agreed with GeoffArsenal on Giroud. Although it’s not good to cheat on your missus after just having a kid (pretty shitty to be fair) it’s none of our business. However, it is the club’s/fans’ business when he’s ‘galavanting’ at 3am before a PL game. The rules are pretty much ‘off to bed and rest’ at a certain hour. For 70k or so per week you should be able to do that, surely? He knew he was breaking the rules by sneaking that large chested lady in. He was shite in… Read more »
Let’s be having Poldi today. Please.
Btw Blogs, that’s your best Arsenal Gent yet.
@Rocky Rocastle, you couldn’t be more spot on your comments that Ozil hasn’t been maximize cos we lack good mobility in the final 3rd of the pitch.
The team is doing considerably better this season than any time for the last few years. Why? Because we have a strong squad and have adapted out style of football. Yes we can improve the squad in the summer, but for the time being fans should accept that things are going great and get behind the players and the managers.