Per Mertesacker and Danny Welbeck have been added to Arsenal’s Champions League squad, ahead of this month’s first knock-out round encounter with Bayern Munich.
The duo were not included in this season’s original squad as they were long-term absentees with knee injuries, but with both of them back in contention once more, they’ve been submitted to the updated squad that UEFA require.
However, there’s no place for Carl Jenkinson who, despite the fact he couldn’t finalise personal terms with Crystal Palace and seal a move away from the club, played twice in the competition so far.
He was in the team for the 3-2 win over Ludogorets, and the 2-2 draw with PSG at the end of November.
Mertesacker has yet to play this season, but was on the bench for the 5-0 win over Southampton in the FA Cup in which Welbeck scored twice.
Arsenal face Bayern at the Allianz Arena on February 15th, before the second leg in London on March 7th.
Arsenal’s Champions League squad
2. Mathieu Debuchy, 3. Kieran Gibbs, 4. Per Mertesacker, 5. Gabriel, 6. Laurent Koscielny, 7. Alexis Sánchez, 8. Aaron Ramsey, 9. Lucas Pérez, 11. Mesut Özil, 12. Olivier Giroud, 13. David Ospina, 14. Theo Walcott, 15. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, 16. Rob Holding, 17. Alex Iwobi*, 18. Nacho Monreal, 19. Santi Cazorla, 20. Shkodran Mustafi, 22. Yaya Sanogo, 23. Danny Welbeck, 24. Héctor Bellerín*, 26. Emiliano Martínez, 29. Granit Xhaka, 31. Jeff Reine-Adélaïde, 33. Petr Čech, 34. Francis Coquelin, 35. Mohamed Elneny, 39. Tolaji Bola*, 42. Kristopher Da Graca*, 43. Josh Dasilva*, 46. Charlie Gilmour*, 49. Ryan Huddart*, 50. Deyan Iliev*, 51. Chiori Johnson*, 53. Hugo Keto*, 55. Ainsley Maitland-Niles*, 58. Marcus McGuane*, 60. Savvas Mourgos*, 65. Ben Sheaf*, 68. Chris Willock*, 72. Reiss Nelson*, 73. Eddie Nketiah*.
*= B-List
(squad list via Jeorge Bird’s Arsenal Youth)
Why are Iwobi and Bellerin tagged as B-list players?
Under 21 players who’ve been at the club for 2+ seasons don’t have to be registered in the squad.
If anything shows Wengers faith in Jenks, that’s it. Very surprised to see Debuchy in instead of him, not that either would play anyway given Gabriel seems to be defacto second choice now. Confident we can beat Bayern, this is our best chance as they’re not the side they used to be by any stretch and we now have an attack that can cause anyone issues. Sanchez, Giroud or Welbeck as our three CF options is fantastic as all are completely different.
Guess that’s pretty much end of the road for The Corporal.
I just hope we get to see him one last time on an Arsenal shirt
You shall not be forgotten
I agree it’s a shame as I always fancied him (probably through blind optimism!) to make it with us. Have to say if what the tabloids are saying are true it’s disappointing though, re him not agreeing personal terms with palace as he was ‘only’ getting 35k a week compared to Schlupp’s 56k. Sure there’s a lot of agent involvement but even so, he presumably has the final say on these things.
22. Yaya Sanogo
What’s a Sanogo?
You know I was watching the Watford game and thinking “Jesus we’ve got Bayern in a couple of weeks…..this is like groundhog day” and then I thought, blimey that’s a deja vu moment haven’t I said that before? In fact my relationship with the Arse at the moment is a lot like Groundhog day with the forlorn hope that I’m going to be screwing Andie McDowell. Now seeing Sanogo above Granit in the list I know I don’t have have a snowballs chance in hell in screwing the piano player. In fact if suddenly a fairy godmother granted my wish… Read more »
He’s not above Granit, his shirt number just comes before Granit’s. My question is why is Sanogo there at all if he’s injured?
But as for Jenks, if Sanogo is on the list but he isn’t then I guess his time at Arsenal is coming to an end…
Sanogo’s listed above Xhaka because the numbers in question are their squad numbers.
As for the rest of your post, um…whaaaat?
Get off your high horse and go find a sober one!
lol why are Iwobi and Bellerin marked as B-list?
Age and nothing more. Gives us more total spots, although if we are still including Sanogo in the squad there’s no real need.
Is Charlie Gilmour the son of Floyd Axeman David Gilmour? I must say a good few of the names above mean nothing to me…I know…I should get out more..
I can somehow see logic in Debuchy over Jenksinson…but my lord, how does Sanogo make it?
Because he will score somoregoals against Bayern
he will score the title goal in the last minute of extra time
If we could get Per match fit, I’d seriously consider starting him instead of Mustafi.
Personally I’ve not really been convinced by Mustafi, he looks shaky and nervy at times and loses possession too easily. Often trying to play ambitious balls in to our strikers which are easily read and intercepted.
I’m not writing him off by any means, but maybe he needs to take a back seat for a bit…
I don’t get this hate for Mustafi. He is not a perfect player but he gives 100% everytime he plays. He has lost 1 game with us and thats it. Against Watford he was not at fault for either goals. Could he have done better? Yes, but he doesn’t make silly mistakes.
I really don’t see the ‘hate’ in that comment. Mustafi has made some errors which granted most players do but per is a first team player and it’s fair to suggest he gets a few starts ahead of Mustafi.
It’s not exactly banishing the player, we have a ‘squad’ for a reason. Mustafi is only 24 as well.
I agree mostly with your comment apart from the observation that i am inclined to agree with the previous comment on the point that Mustafi do seem to be getting more than his fair share of stick from the fans over the Watford clusterfuck, given that everybody that played in that game were equally culpable and the fact that Mustafi’s player ratings in matches till then has been more than decent, and as you rightly pointed out, he is only 24, which for a CH is very young, and so still learning his trade.
Def agree with you. Its not hate if you make a young player take a back seat and learn from an older, more experienced international and club teammate in-action, making him hungrier. And at Arsenal rates of injuries, we need more than 2 CBs who have match confidence along with experience and hard work. In Per’s case he is also very tall and they may reallly fimd it useful with some of the teams out there.
I agree i took it too far with the ‘hate’ remark and i don’t think midgunner had any bad intentions. But, i don’t get what Mustafi has to do to personally convince midgunner and slagging off Mustafi right after our defeat seemed a bit silly. If you analyze the second goal closely you can see that any player who is properly educated at RB will not take a throw in like Gabriel did near the halfway line. Mustafi could have done better to stop Capoue but Cech saved the shot and Kos or Monreal couldn’t stop Deeney because of their… Read more »
I’m sure Per gives 100% as well. That is the basic requirement for a professional footballer. Giving 100% doesn’t mean you should never be dropped.
yaya sanogo inclusion shows that uefa requirement for champions league squad is hell a lot…but I would rather go for jenkinson in forward than sanogo..
Why is Sanogo in there ahead of Jenkinson? For Sanogo to play (provided he is healthy) we’d have to have one epic injury crisis, even by Arsenal standards (knock on wood)…no way that he gets in at striker ahead of Alexis, Giroud, Welbz, Lucas, or Theo. Jenkinson on the other hand is probably 3rd choice RB at the moment. I know Gabriel has been deputizing for Bellerin, but that is because Debuchy is not fully fit and Jenkinson has probably been kept out of action for most of January so as not to scupper a potential transfer and he should… Read more »
Funny, I have been wondering exactly the same about Jenkinson. Why did Wenger give up on him so ‘easily’?…….that is so unlike him, if anything, he has been criticised over the years for doing the exact opposite with certain players, the said Sanogo comes instantly to mind, unless there are other compelling issues that is not being made public about Jenks?
Mustafi has been excellent. Kosciwlny conceded plenty of reds own goals and penalties in his first season. Many less seasoned observers have short memories and a penchant to scapegoat certain players. Per is a welcome addition bc he dovetails well with Laurent as well. Particularly as Gabriel may be called to fill Rback, we can do with experience in addition to Holding at Cback. Debuchy is a better player than Jenkinson. That said I think he may be a potential short term cover in Coquelin’s position tillbGranit returns shortly. He has played in midfield early in his career and has… Read more »
The one player I like to see more frankly is Lucas
He’s beginning to take to the tempo if the team and he makes things happen.
Dear mr moderator, we are all on the same side but have differences in opinions and are free to express them anywhere we choose! Whatever happened to freedom of speech (with political correctness)? I dont swear or abuse anyone on here or the pitch,and yet every little comment gets moderated. 40 years a gooner. First 20 a paying regular. Now not so much.
I don’t know why your comments require moderation. It’s not anything we’ve done. Sorry about this, I know it’s annoying, but we’ll try approve comments asap and I’ll keep looking at why it might be happening
I think there’s a random number generator somewhere that determines when a comment gets moderated. The choice of which posts get trapped doesn’t seem to follow any particular set of rules. About one in twenty of mine are referred to the moderator, and they’re always the most innocuous ones. The ones where I describe John Terry’s morals or Jon Moss’ refereeing abilities entirely in four-letter words get posted right away, no problems. If I castigate another person’s post or make a snide remark to someone (I know I shouldn’t, but sometimes the temptation is too great), bang, it’s instantly in… Read more »
Is there a particular length or particular number of characters? Because I notice whenever I write long posts they ‘awaiting moderation’
They are always eventually posted so I get over it
Whaaaaaat I just disproved my own theory as that previous short post of mine says awaiting moderation 😀
I wonder if this post will too…
Ta
Sanogo gets a look-in but Jenko dropped. Carl’sdays are very numbered, they are.
Re moderation, I’ve noticed certain posts are held for review if you use one or more key words which could be abusive in some contexts but are harmless in others. That may be the issue.
Oh what you mean words like – Ta.
Sanogo?, we’ve not even seen him in an Arsenal shirt in almost a year, whereas Jenks has at least played…….Given the fact that they are both in similar situation (i think!) the only logical reason imo is that the list was submitted before his proposed move to Crystal Palace collapsed.
I could really use some Champions League right now.