Arsene Wenger has provided the latest team news update ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash with Crystal Palace.
After the 1-0 win over West Brom, we’ll be without Kieran Gibbs who suffered some damage to his knee in a collision with Claudio Jacob.
“I don’t think Kieran Gibbs will be available,” he said. “Apart from that Mustafi is fit again, and we have one or two uncertainties.
“We have a few with flu, but overall everybody should be available.
“Walcott has a calf problem, it’s short-term, but I don’t think he’ll be available for Sunday.”
He added on Gibbs: “He had a knee problem, a kick. He bumped into the knee of his opponent. He has an inflammation, it’s a question of days. Will he be available for Bournemouth or not? He looks short, but after for Preston [in the FA Cup] he should be available.”
So, let’s hope that those feeling a bit under the weather are better by Sunday.
Xhaka + Ramsey on Sunday please. The only midfield combination that hasn’t been tried this season, yet it could potentially prove to be our most effective!
Hell no.
Why not?
Yeah I’d like to see that. Palace are v strong on the wings so if we got control of the CM area we could control the game. Didn’t they play well together away at Basel? Could be wrong but agree that it would be nice to give that combination a go. Winnable games coming up so a chance to build momentum and get the confidence back. Happy New Year Gooners and let’s hope we kick the new year off with a win.
Rambo was on the wing at Basel away, but I think there’s been a few times this season where he’s come off the bench and partnered Xhaka and I’ve thought we’ve looked more dangerous. Gotta try it some time, I guess.
Ramsey played CM against Basel but he exchanged positions with Ozil and iwobi a lot
How palace will play against us on Sunday will be different than how they’d have been with pardew at the helm- I don’t expect much in the way of creativity or pace until after the 70th minute from a side managed by allardyce. They’ll be all about time wasting and set pieces before surrendering the lead.
I think we need coquelins physicality against a sam allerdyce team. Would love to see perez get a start even out wide instead of iwobi.
i always wanted to see that. but we already tried that in one game and i thought our midfield were left more open in that game. but i’d like to see it more. that combination is the one with most potential
The problem with playing Ramsey and Xhaka together is that Ramsey will abandon Xhaka and leave him to shield the back 4 with no outlet. We have to have a true DM and a CM that will sit in a holding role. Ramsey just can’t help himself but get up in the attack, exposing his area in front of the defense. Yeah, he will chase back when he is caught, but he usually commits a foul in the process.
Hopefully it won’t be another 90 minutes of attack vs defence
Hopefully it WILL be another case of attack v defence but with us taking our chances this time.
I don’t enjoy watching us passing around a 10 man defence for 90 minutes.
If we can score early it will be a lot more entertaining
I don’t give a shit about entertaining, I just want 3 points
I want that too but a good game of football would be nice as well. Too many teams try to play like this against us, it’s annoying.
A ‘few with flu’
I’m hoping by that he means one first team player and a couple of support staff
I’ve had the flu this week, do I count as one of the few?
Nice for Alain Pardieux and Barb Bradley to shaft themselves just before facing us, turning gimme games into trickier ones.??
Swansea did that before with Bradley coming in – and it was tricky …
I dont like Arsene Wenger when he said short term.
Thought you’d find this interesting. Somewhere in nigeria …https://twitter.com/Ozo1Naija/status/814384835649212416
“There Is Nowhere In Nigeria Where ARSENAL DAY Is Celebrated This Much Like They Do In Okene, Kogi State. They’ve Done This For 10years NOW.”
Which certainly seems to mean that “ARSENAL DAY” is celebrated, albeit not as brilliantly as in Okene, in other parts of (throughout?) Nigeria. Does anyone know about this?
Nice