Arsenal will be without both Hector Bellerin and Aaron Ramsey for their opening Champions League group stage game with Dinamo Zagreb.
Neither the Spanish right-back or Welsh midfielder made the trip to Croatia with Arsene Wenger confirming that both players have been rested.
Mathieu Debuchy is the obvious candidate to cover Hector while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will no doubt be hoping to feature in Aaron’s role.
Earlier in the day Arsenal confirmed that Jack Wilshere requires surgery on his fibula and will be sidelined for three months. Adding to that statement the boss was at pains to stress that the latest setback does not represent a threat to the England international’s career.
“Jack Wilshere is young enough to get over this,” he asserted. “I’m confident he can make a career his talent deserves.”
Wilshere joins Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky on the long-term absentee list.
Interesting. I thought that Ramsey might have been given his chance in a central position against Zagreb. But he has played a lot of minutes recently so perhaps it’s good to resy him ahead of chevski.
The interlull affects some players more than others… and in Aaron Ramsey’s case every minute the country of Wales plays, he plays.
Glad Rambo has been given a rest – can’t wait for him to open his account at Stamford Bridge on Saturday!
Makes sense. Assuming AW plays Chelsea with the same team that beat them in the Community Shield, Ramsey and Bellerin will need to be fresh to shutdown Fabregas and Hazard, respectively.
At this moment in time I think my Nan could shut cesc down but I agree.
Will be interesting to see if Gibbs gets a run in. Would love for ox to get a go, too, but I’d actually like to see Giroud up top with Theo on the right (hopefully not in his less influential winger role, but something more similar to what Ramsey does, cutting inside, running at defenses). Hope Jack recovers soon.
That’s what I would like as well. Having Giroud in a central position forces the oppositions central defenders to stay in the middle, opening up space for Walcott between full back and central defenders. And I think it would be wise to let Walcott and Giroud creep more, since you’ll never be able to convince Alexis not to be involved all over the pitch.
we only have 2 fit strikers so I don’t think we should risk playing Walcott and Giroud at the same time. Let them sub for each other. If one gets hurt or one is misfiring, there isn’t really a lot of options left on the bench. I guess Joel Campbell could come in on the wing for Walcott, but that’s it really…
Rosicky wilshere two players who provide the drive that arsenal misses in some games now not available. And this isnt something new. Every year its the same. Something is wrong in the treatment/training side. Wilshere seems to break his bones all the time. Time to eat some calcium sandoz ? :p
Calcum sandoz? Anyone?
I think that would be a sandoz, with calcium in it.
I think that’s wise.
Interesting to see who starts upfront? Theo needs to keep playing, but if he does, when will Giroud play?
My guess is Giroud will start against Zagreb since they will sit deep to try to prevent us scoring an away goal. Theo to start against Chelsea to expose their slow backline.
away goal??
My mistake: Forgot aways goal rule only applies during Round of 16 onwards. My point remains the same, however.
It’s still important if we finished level on points with Zagreb, then it goes on head-to-head.
If we finish level on points with Zagreb, then that’ll mean we’re tied for last place.
Would be nice to see the Ox from the start for a change and a good opportunity for Debouche
This is good. Finally Wenger realises he needs to rotate to keep his players fresh. Debuchy will get some much needed game time
“wenger finally realises”
And 4x more thumbs up than thumbs down
You couldn’t make it up
Every team have players who have long-term injuries, but mostly they are so crap
that nobody misses them. We suffer more because our players are all top bananas.
Speedy recovery Jack.
Silvestre and we went and bought him!
The exception that proves the rule.
I like it.. unleash them on the sorry chavcunts.
I predicting arteta starting tomorrow, mark may words.
You could be right. Your mark is 3/10. Must do better with word choice.
“Jack Wilshere is young enough to get over this,” he copied and pasted.
Not much else you can do at this point until Jack turns the corner.
Results tonight mean the Premiership teams now realise that Shitty are vunerable, Man U are not much and Chelski are 17th!
Perfect.
Now let’s win tomorrow by a margin and then spank Chelski on Saturday and watch the pundits change their minds once again.
Is it just me that is excited??
COYG!!!
Clearly it was not just you that got excited, paul 🙂
(See below)
Well, Citeh seems to have bottled it at home and lost.
Timely wasn’t it?
Just as they had won the first five league games, and everybody seemed to have forgotten that they were beatable.
Come on Arsenal. Lets whip some butt on Saturday. We are still on.
Good to see Ox start on the right plank, definitely goals will flow.
Yeah, I just hate starting on the wrong plank.
The beauty of Pilates is it doesn’t matter which side you start on.
The beauty of Pirates is that you always end up falling off the end.
Wherever he starts, it does not matter as long as he leaves the Zagreb players planking.
Being able to rest some starting 11 players and not worry too much.
Having a couple of long term injuries to key players and not freaking the fuck out too much.
That’s what’s been missing all these long years, a team that gives me some hope
The bigger game is Chelsea Saturday, win that and we can start to believe in winning the league whilst putting Chelsea in the relegation places and end their dreams!