Aaron Ramsey has handed Arsene Wenger a midfield boost by returning to full training ahead of Saturday’s trip to Anfield.
The Gunners lost Mohamed Elneny with an ankle injury during the 2-0 win over Sutton United in the FA Cup, with the Egyptian set to miss the next couple of games at least.
With Santi Cazorla ruled out for the season, the Welsh international gives the manager another midfield option which may come in particularly handy if stories about Mesut Ozil are confirmed.
It has been reported that the German was sent home from training this morning after feeling ill, perhaps precautionary as not to risk any other players being affected.
Arseblog News has sought confirmation of this from the club but as yet that has not been forthcoming.
The German had been given time off in the lead-up to the Liverpool game to help him get his head right after suffering a slump in form since the turn of the year.
The Arsenal manager will have to decide whether or not starting Ramsey after an absence is too much of a risk, but if Ozil is absent, packing the midfield may well be an option as we look to take three important Premier League points against the nefarious Mugsmashers.
“The German had been given time off in the lead-up to the Liverpool game to help him get his head right after suffering a slump in form since the turn of the year.”
I’m sorry, but where does this come from? Wenger himself said that Mesut had the same rest as the others. Well… He must play anyway: personally i’d love to listen again to the new fans’ song for him. Very inspiring.
He was given time off to go to Germany and then Turkey. Came back last week, he wasn’t away for ages or anything, but still got a few days
A know a few people who went Turkey on holiday and food gave them dodgy belly ?….hope we smash Liverpool.
Ramsey is a good player but used in wrong position. He’s not a holding player. He’s a box to box and more inclined to say no.8 His talents are wasted playing deep.
Ramsey should stay away. What he did vs Watford is still fresh. No excuse, he had been given a chance in all midfield positions and has been a disaster
He really tries hard to make things happen but he’s really a selfish player and should pass the ball more often. Behind the striker is really his best position and Ozil has that role.
This weekend, woth both Ozil and Ramsey not starting, Lucas should have a go at the number 10 role behind Alexis. He’s always involved in a goal.
Inspiring? It’s a disgrace, and before you go off about how fans are entitled to their opinion they should express it etc, fuck off, if you’re deliberately going out and chanting critical songs about Ozil then you are not just a disgrace to our club but to our sport. Fucking cowards probably never achieved a shadow of the success Ozil has yet they wanna ride their high horse and talk about passion, dedication and character. All these fans being hostile and coming up with these songs are absolutely pathetic and I am ashamed to associate myself with you lot. I… Read more »
Midfield has had more changes than I can ever seem to remember, even for us its been crazy for bad luck and inconsistencies
bad news – ramsey is back to walk into the team as wenger’s favourite pet with rank average performances. good news – serial bottle job and evader of turning up for big games mesut will hopefully be missing on saturday.
There’s that never-say-die spirit Arsenal fans are renowned for!
Absolutely. What was Paulo thinking there? As Arsenal fans we should just blindly be positive about all aspects of our team instead of telling it as we see it (unless it involves Coquelin or another play we don’t like too much)
Yeah, can you believe that people like that exist? Who are these crazy people who believe in their team, defend their players and support their manager through the ups and the downs (whether predictable or not)? What is this lot that doesn’t go belly up when the going gets tough and the outlook is not all roses? Who are these strange figures who don’t belly-ache endlessly about the same old stuff and pick apart their club like it was a despised enemy or loathed rival? They must be fanatics, pure fanatics … but for now, let’s just call them “fans”… Read more »
In all honesty, and in Paulo’s defence, the last time Ramsey did anything to prove him wrong was 2/3 years ago (And Ozil 2/3 months ago). Of course they can turn their form around, but especially in Ramsey’s case, history is not on his side. When you see the same thing over, and over, and over again – why would you expect change? When we play Liverpool next, I expect us to roll over and get humped. Because that is what we do in big games. Over, and over, and over again.
Ramsey return, too soon for the Mugsmashers? On the bench or????
too risky subbing him off the bench. He’ll warm up better for the start then take him off early…
No wait, he was injured 11 mins in the last start, right? hmmm. I think either way Ramsey will leave the game injured. His hamstrings are made from the essence of Micheal Owen.
As poor as Ramsey has been this year, I really believe him and Xhaka will be a good midfield pair.
Having said that, having them and Ozil in the midfield may leave us way too open and outnumbered since Ozil doesn’t exactly track back.
I really dread these 3 against the likes of Douglas Costa and Thiago Alcantara and this is our best pair!!
Can we put this to bed once and for all. The three matches I remember Xhaka and Ramsey starting together were Bournemouth, Preston North End, Swansea and Burnley at home. Against Bournemouth we were shocking until they went down to 10 men. We were losing and played really poorly against Preston and got a late winner. Beat Swansea reasonably convincingly although they were in dreadful form. And were 1-0 against Burnley who are shocking away from home before Xhaka sent off. Is it really off the back of these four games that this partnership is so promising to dictate our… Read more »
Agree all day. Don’t see that Ramsey and Xhaka have the composure or discipline to be trusted with this role right now.
Just to play Devil’s Advocate, you could equally say we haven’t seen enough evidence to prove it will not be a good partnership.
I’m still undecided, although Ramsey’s performance against Watford is enough to make me not want to see him walk back into the team.
Well Bournemouth and Preston were pretty dreadful performances. But yes you could argue we haven’t seen enough to prove it either.
My point is just hearing how promising it has been and I am confused as to what evidence this assessment is being made on
Cech
Bell Mus Kos Mon
Xhaka Chamb
Ozil
Luc Sanch Iwobi
Would rather see welbz than iwobi, as much as I like iwobi I think he could do with some time out of the team
Xhaka-Ramsey midfield pairing imminent?
TBH, Doesn’t matter which midfield pairing we choose, the real issue is that there shouldn’t be a midfield pairing, but a midfield triple. Unless you have Kante, doesn’t matter how good your Midfield duo are, you’re still outnumbered by the 3 midfielders most top teams employ these days. Heck even Kante with his super-human qualities still functions in a midfield trio. Sooner or later, the issue of having a 2-man midfield has to be addressed. Ironic because Wenger himself moved away from the 4-4-2 because he saw that a 2-man midfield didn’t work anymore. I mean, we all know why… Read more »
Ozil is a mouse of a man.
Some Arsenal fans can be humongous cunts now and then
You’re a man of a mouse.
Just play Perez
Let’s play Xhaka-Maitland-Niles-Ox in midfield and see what the boys can do. Not worth to risk Ramsey for another hamstring injury
Need to pick Ramsey or Ozil or the blog will be very quiet if we lose.
Man that would be refreshing. we can dream.
If he starts, please Mr. Wenger, tell him to stay put and play a disciplined role. We’ll have better structure, and he’ll be less likely to have another hamstring issue if he stops making those runs out ahead of the strikers – which this year are amounting to nothing. He has had two especially good periods with us – the one where he scored all season long, and the other when he was forced to play a disciplined role next to Arteta. That’s the one I’d like to see for now since the goals are not coming and it’s our… Read more »
I think that was the same season and period. He has looked okay when playing with Xhaka but would surely look better in a 3-man midfield
Nope – it was the run-in the previous season when we kept scraping wins. He was tidy and efficient, instead of bombing forward, trying to score a goal at every opportunity.
Ramsey is best played in the Ozil role. He is instinctive in the final third and is more an attacking asset IMO. He may even find a better balance than the German between defending and attacking. Ozil isn’t the lazy player many think him to be. He covers a lot of ground every game. I think the issue with BOTH players is the old nugget, ‘they’re too nice”. They need to play with a bit more aggression and not get pushed around as much. If they can do that, the midfield behind them (Coquelin/Granit) will not have to cover as… Read more »
I think we are better off having coq on the bench, he is in awful form atm.
Ozil dropped but covered up is my opinion on that
Sanchez is going to beat Arshavin’s record and score five at Anfield.
COYG
With Liverpool’s defence I could quite believe that. Unfortunately, I could imagine them also scoring 5/6 themselves 🙁
Cech
Bellerin Holding Kos Gibbs
Perez Coq OX Xhaka Welbeck
Alexis
I actually would like to see a Xhaka-Coq-Ox midfield. Have Xhaka playing the deepest of the three to give Ox and Coq freedom to press.
If Ramsey plays, plse put him down the right wing, it works, I dont know why, it just does.
And plse bring in Welbz, or Perez for Iwobi. The kid has been over exposed, give him a rest and lets see him back maybe in a few games time.
And for fucks sake, can we please have a performance from Coq and Mesut, if selected.
A lot of Pleases there, I know.
His feelings have been hurt. Get him out of here.
Wait weren’t they all out bowling last night? Mesut seemed ok then…
*singing* God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. Only injury or illness would make Wenger drop Ozil.
Someone needs to save us from Mesut Ozil. His quality is bringing the teams class down. I love how short Arsenal fans memories are, they think Ozil is shit because they never go back and analyze the game other than what you see from the naked eye, and they don’t seem to remember that every time we didn’t play Ozil (other than when our kids played Southampton’s kids), our midfield couldn’t put two passes together and we weren’t the same. Hearing the shit I’m hearing about Ozil, I’m shocked, actually, I know Arsenal fans are stupid but surely you guys… Read more »
If there is no Ozil, we need 3 in the middle to dominate possession and stop them exposing our soft centre. Their defence is weak with Lucas as a makeshift centre back and Leicester took them apart. Alexis, with Lucas and Welbeck either side should be able to do a job on them.
Most teams have worked out how to play against Liverpool….except “We Will Play Our Own Game” Wenger.
Prove me wrong please. Lets improve our abysmal record against “big teams”
Up The Arsenal!
Cech Gab Mus Kos Gibbs Xhaka Ox Walcott Iwobi ???? Sanchez Tbh i dont want to see coq in the field atm. he has been poor. Our midfield need to well-run by engine players like Ox or ramsey. We should probably see Iwobi back to the starting lineup given Wenger trust in him… Should Ozil is out, iwobi/ramsey will probably start the no 10 ahead. The left flank then is the tricky one. Will Lucas start? As much we fans want to see more actions from Lucas, we know Wenger. Wenger only treat Lucas as a rotational squad player.. I… Read more »