Arsene Wenger has given his latest squad fitness update as Arsenal prepare to host Southampton on Wednesday evening revealing Nacho Monreal, Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all face late fitness tests after picking up knocks against West Bromwich Albion.
Down to the bare bones in defence, the boss said he remains hopeful one of his two left-backs will be fit to feature.
Wojciech Szczesny remains sidelined with the hip injury sustained in a collision with teammate Gibbs against Manchester United meaning Emiliano Martinez will continue in goal.
In positive news Yaya Sanogo is fit (I guess that depends what you make of him…), while Mathieu Debuchy and David Ospina will both return to first team training next week ahead of the busy Christmas schedule.
The likes of Jack Wilshere, Mikel Arteta and Mesut Ozil are not available. No mention was made of Theo Walcott, but last Friday the boss said he’d also miss the visit of his old club.
If GIbbs was fit I’d be much more confident, if Monreal was fit I’d still be confident. But no LBs at all and I’d be worried.
One thumbs up for the name of your avathar
One thumb down for your spelling of avatar :p
Well avatar is an Indian word and is often spelled with a ‘h’ in India. We don’t give a fuck about the movie spelling.
Amen
Flamini is going to pretend it’s 2006 and fill in on LB. Remember those 10 clean sheets in the CL?
That was very deep @overmars
That’s what she said
Oi Oi Savaloy!
I’d be much more confident if we had Gibb’s pace on the left for Soton. Delighted to see Debuchy and Ospina on the way back though and delighted for young Sanogo he doesn’t have a long term injury after his goal.
3 points and a 1-0 with no heart attack is my dream result
Think there’ll always be a bit of heart attack involved in a 1-0 win!
That’s a valid point mate!
I don’t know who will will start but I know Podolski won’t. While his finishing is great, he never properly tracks back. He does a little slow jog back, hoping someone will win the ball back, so he doesn’t have to go too far. I know because I do this after 20 minutes of 5-a-side.
He came on for the last 10-15 mins at West Brom (I think)… charged around for the 1st minute, then was in 2nd gear for the remainder of the game. He has either got terrible stamina or is just plain lazy. Either way, there is no logic in having such an expensive asset as a bench option.
It is a shame because he is probably the best finisher at the club and is a lively character to have around.
It’s a shame he isn’t lively on the pitch.
Have they killed Theo?
yeah, does anyone know?
in the pre west brom conference he was ruled out for the weekend and weds, not sure about after then…
At least they told us Theo got injured again, anybody have any clue what happened to Gnabry?
Still on his way back I think. Haven’t seen him in any training pics or U21 games
Worse ways maybe Flamini will reprise his role of emergency left back that worked so well way back when….
Then who’s going to play DM? Our Coq is out of our hands!
we should really be beating Southampton regardless of their good start to the season.
Having Sanogo fit is a good thing regardless of what you make of him. He’s an Arsenal player who bagged us a goal the other night, I for one am hoping he can do it again.
O’, great and luminous ones, who came from beyond the stars to slumber serene beneath the earth of the third sphere, hearken to me! Hear me, o’ mighty one, o’ great Theo Walcott! Awaken and hear my adulation, o’ divine and glorious God of gods! From thy hoary tomb thou shalt ascend, and the earth shall be enraptured by thy majesty!
Hope this works.
I am positive that one LB will be fit enough to play. COYG
The strength of this team now depends on collective defending and this was what helped us against West Brom. The team kept its shape which prevented susceptibility to counter attacks. I prefer Welbeck and Sanchez in front of the fullbacks.
.
Hmmm debatable.
Why has Ramsey got a mic and wearing the ref’s kit?
hahahahaha yes.
I make my predictions based on the position of Arsene’s zip. It’s 50/50 if we have a fit LB.
surely Flamini will be the only one who can play there at lbif either gibbs or monreal dont make it, it will limit us on the offence but with Sanchez in front of him will give good back up for defence, in midfield Rambo will have to take the elusive DM role with Rosisky coming in for his first start but who knows how wenger thinks sometimes
I want to see Rosicky on Wednesday. Not because I feel sorry for him (I do), but because we need to rotate and Rosicky is one of the players we can count on. Ox, Wilshere, Rosicky and to a lesser extent Cazorla bring the most ‘energy’ to the midfield if you know what I mean. I don’t mean raw pace, I mean energy, movement, tempo. One of them always needs to be out there or I find we lose dynamism.
Agreed about Rosicky, and that it’s SURELY time to start rotating the squad a bit.
Yep, surely! Rotating players a couple months back to prevent them from getting injured would have been ideal. Despite being a player light in defense it was our strongest squad in a long while. Maybe we would have had the same amount of injuries either way, who knows… I just want to see Campbell get a chance after a fine season last year and Rosicky used when needed. Why wait until we have to use them?!
Meanwhile…
No mention of Diaby whatsoever. Is he injured? Is he fit and playing with the first team, expected to be part of the squad?
Or is he stuck in the Phantom Zone?
Rosicky in midfield please Wenger. .don’t be an arsene
The young and exciting players we have are great. We missed the double last season because of injuries to players. And this season we are up and down, does this mean we need men not boys like we had with the invisible? The BPL is a league for men not boys. The games are physically demanding. I love team this season if only they can stay healthy. For those of that AW out, learn to analyze the game better then you will see why we are where we are and it’s not because of AW. Bottom line, if we were… Read more »
What’s the BPL?
Stop being disrespectful to AW. Our system needs the combination of boys and men to be great. With no money, you sign boys and stay afloat. Now we have, we going to bring in boys and men. Stay tuned!
Oh, I am new to this blog. What is COYG?
COYG = Come On You Great man Mark Hughes.
it means “go on you goonies” obviously!
Come On, You Gunners!
Maybe you are a new Arsenal fan, since you don’t know what COYG means !
#AmericanGunner
With Arteta already out injured, we let Coquelin extend his loan at Charlton through December. That is mind-boggling. NOT that Coquelin is good– he is not. But he is a live body, which we really need, and it was painfully clear that we were going to be needing depth for the next month or so. So why do we let a defensive midfielder who can cover left back stay out on loan? I just don’t see how that is in Arsenal’s interests whatsoever right now. The only point to Coquelin is to give us cover when we have injuries. Now… Read more »
So he isn’t very good but you want him in the squad to fill a gap even though he isn’t very good… Is that the gist of your comment?
better than playing the garden squirrel?
Yes. Because it is better to have someone who is not very good rather than play someone else who is even worse. Which is what we’re going to have at DM or LB with one more injury.
But I’m sure we won’t have any more injuries. We never do!
Oh where is diaby ?
Lets apply some Rocky style motivation in the changing room. My favourite Rocky quote “you are gonna eat lightening and crap thunder”
My favourite Rocky moment was at Odd Triffid when he went past 3 players and put the ball in the top of the goal. Can’t remember the year (should do!).
1991
The big thing for this game is that Cazorla never be forced into playing left back. His defending tactics include the dangling leg, a late tackle to stop the play 80 yards from goal, and rarely “the clean tackle”- very rarely. But that being said we’ll come away with a point at least- Ronald Koeman has been intelligent, lucky, and done well, but I don’t imagine that he’ll get the win.
What about Flam at LB, Chambers at DM and Bellerin at right back. Might be too many changes, but would be interesting.
Not a slight to Martinez, but I would feel better with Szczesny or Ospina in goal, especially if Monreal and Gibbs are out and we have to plug Flamini in at LB.Even Coquelin won’t make me feel much better. Not directly related, but I am hoping when all our players are healthy, (if that will ever happen)
my dream starting team would be Chamberlain-Mertesacker-Koscielny-Gibbs, Arteta-Ramsey, Alexis-Ozil-Welbeck, Giroud. And it has to be Ozil in the 10. Regular rotation of Walcott & Cazorla with Alexis/Welbeck. Just my humble opinion.
i actually think when it comes to goaltender if you’ve got one that’s winning you leave him in until he loses. martinez made some great saves against dortmund. i can’t remember sczczesny winning a game for us this year. some time on the bench might do him some good – similar to when he was benched and fabianski took over. competition is good for goaltenders and i think this year szczesny has been guilty of thinking he doesn’t have any.
martinez tends his goal like the botanical gardens…sczczensy on the other hand….
And where is Diaby?
Surely he isn’t injured, he’s made of titanium or if not, he should be by now.