Arsenal have named their Europa League squad for their first crack at the trophy since it was rebranded from the UEFA Cup.
The opening game is next week, a home clash with Cologne on Thursday, and the team the manager picks for that game – especially with a trip to Stamford Bridge on Sunday – will be quite interesting.
Arsenal’s Europa League squad for 2017/18 is as follows.
Goalkeepers
David Ospina, Petr Cech, Deyan Iliev, Matt Macey, Ryan Huddart, Hugo Keto.
Defenders
Mathieu Debuchy, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Rob Holding, Nacho Monreal, Shkodran Mustafi, Calum Chambers, Hector Bellerin, Sead Kolasinac, Toljai Bola, Chiori Johnson, Tafari Moore.
Midfielders
Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil, Granit Xhaka, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Francis Coquelin, Mohamed Elneny, Krystian Bielik, Jeff Reine-Adelaide, Charlie Gilmour, Marcus McGuane, Reiss Nelson, Ben Sheaf, Joe Willock.
Forwards
Alexis Sanchez, Alexandre Lacazette, Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott, Danny Welbeck, Chuba Akpom, Josh Dasilva, Alex Iwobi, Aaron Eyoma, Edward Nketiah.
Would love us to have a real go at this competition. Would be nice for a decent European cup run! COYG
With the way we started the season, we better win it to qualify for the CL. Plus, we are good at winning secondary trophies.
No Iwobi?
What has happened to Iwobi?
He’s there!
Sneaky… ; )
He’s in the list of forwards…..
he is there
He’s in the squad in the forwards section.
Third from bottom
Join thhe is in theree discussion
Whatever happened to Zelalem?
Injured
Not sure we’ve got enough goalkeepers for these matches…
Sadly injured in the U-20 world cup :(. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/soccer-insider/wp/2017/05/24/gedion-zelalem-arsenals-u-s-prospect-to-undergo-knee-surgery-miss-6-months/?utm_term=.e5a277d43d50
I can hear Gunnerblog’s voice: “Got enough keepers?”
I can see the headline now:
‘All Arsenal keepers injured in bizarre gardening accident; Holding to deputise’.
I can see the headline now:
“All Arsenal Keepers fit, holding to play between the posts”
We’re Arsenal. Anything can happen. Next May, we’ll might be greatful for Hugo Keto.
winning this might be the best chance of getting in to the champions league for next season
*only
(Sorry, couldn’t resist. COYG!)
6 keepers?
Some of them may play at CB
Nah. Left side of midfield.
No Iwobi??
Nah, no looky carefully
I’m not raising my hopes at all cos as it stands Arsenal can only win FA CUP, come on Stan Kreonke is still the President, Gazidis the Chief Executive Officer, and Arsene Wenger the Manager, this guy’s make up the list of the most confused people in football.
Unleash Lord Nelson!
Surely we’re calling him Admiral Nelson? The Admiral for short?
Hope these youngsters can really give it a go.
Why not see how Wilshere could work in the midfield? The EL seems a good place to start…
So like, every player at the club then?
If you’re an arsenal player and not on that list you know it’s over. Like over over.
Except you’re Santi. Special rules apply for Santi.
Good to see Nketiah in the squad. After all this is European league cup.
Arsene didn’t have the handbrake on while deciding on the size of the squad. LOL
On a serious note, hopefully we treat it like a real important tourney and not a lap of honour for 10 youngsters or so.this tournament gives us a bloody good chance of winning something…and now I am waiting for Arsene to kill this optimism when he fields Coquelin as a no.10, with Ozil playing as ball winning defender
With three at the back, we don’t have a #10, just a new way of wasting ozil on the right.
Ah, the Lesser Spotted Matthieu Debuchy. Rarely seen in the wild these days.
A few names I don’t recognize. Was looking out for your usual ‘joke’ names.
I had to google Charlie Gilmour – turns out it’s a real person and not the son of Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour (he’s also called Charlie and got nicked for rioting a few years back!)
Have we got enough keepers?
Got enough keepers mate? Like gunnerblog!
Six keepers!
I wonder whose position is up for grabs this time; maybe Hugo Keto as a right wing back…
This is our best hope of getting back in the CL and should be treated as such.
Jesus, there’s enough players there to contest the Europa League, Olympics and Eurovision all at once.
My XI for Köln;
Ospina
Chambers, Mustafi, Holding
Bellerin, Kola
Wilshere, Coq
Nelson, Iwobi
Giroud
Quite like this team…
Would put bfg in to talk the game through to the kids , and Walcott to push back the other teams back four as we Are at home and give jack space to pass ball around in. Plus theo and giroud have a lot of European goals between them
Theo and Oli are beautiful together
I wouldn’t mind using the competition to experiment whether or not we are ready to revert to a back four yet, line-up wise i’d play it safe – experience in defensive areas and let the kids run riot in attack.
———————Opsina————————-
Bellerin——Mustafi—–Koscielny—–Kolasinac
——————–Coquelin————————
———–M-Niles———–Wilshere————-
—Nelson———-Nketiah————Iwobi——
That would leave a pretty frightening front three sat on the bench in case of emergency:
–Walcott———Lacazette———Sanchez—–
And would allow us to rest Arsene’s seemingly preferred premiere league midfield trio – Ramsey, Xhaka, Ozil.
Whilst also having Elneny’s energy ready to sub into midfield should Jack or Ainsley start to wane.
It’s Chelsea after that game, I’d play Debuchy in place of Bellerin
That appears to be a very strong squad laced with youthfulness and hard core defence. I agree completely with your selection.
The is no problem with that team. There is a huge problem with the person managing that team.
If we take it seriously? This should be a competition we’ve a decent chance in. The problem is the lack of quality depth in Midfield or Defence. Playing Thurs-Sun is no different to Wed-Sat which we’ve done for many a yr. But trying to make up points in the league by playing a fresh side in the PL might make sense? particularly as I think we’re a long way off in terms of quality and balance to other teams this season. It shouldn’t be this way, but unfortunately we’re regressing and this is the reality of our situation. Arsene usually… Read more »
Sacrifice the league? Your wish has already been granted sir.
Sacrifice the league??? Lol, wake up mate, we’ll be lucky to make top six.
With all the crap over the last week, I quite like this squad for Europa. Hopefully this means some searious action and bedding in some of the younger players into the main squad, and a chance to put out some positive results. Really hope we push to win the competition.
Wish to to see Nelson in the starting 11
This guy has a talent.
I have a talent too, unfortunately it’s not football, but sleeping in loud environments.
Breaking news….arsenal name everybody for their europa league squad
Lol, yeah, not so much a squad, more like everyone who was at training the day they asked.
Does anyone have any information on where to go to watch these games in the States?
https://www.arsenal.com/usa/news/features/where-to-watch-arsenal – Fox Sports has all European comps in the U.S.
Most sports bars will have it. If you really don’t want to miss it then just go to a Buffalo Wild WIngs or some chain type sports bar (they suck I know) and they are guaranteed to have it and put it on at least one TV for you. Otherwise every moderately sized city will have a “soccer bar” where there should be a better atmosphere than disgusting Buffalo Wild Wings!
Thanks to both of you!
Would like to see this as the lineup in most games
Ospina
Hector Holding Per/Chambers Saed/Monreal
Xhaka/Bielik??
Walcott/Nelson Iwobi Ramsey Welbeck/Nelson
Giroud
Would love the Nelson-Iwobi-Ramsey-Nelson midfield with Bielik covering behind them.
Needs more Nelson.
So we named everyone currently employed by Arsenal? Pat Rice must be gutted he isn’t on the list haha
I enjoin Arsenal fans not to raise any hope of winning the Europa League .Arsenal has the players to do it comfortably but somebody you know lack the managerial acumen and technical savvy to lead Arsenal to win it . Wrong players will be picked for crucial matches, good players will be played out of position and the clueless one will avoid the technical area like plague but that is where other managers micro manage matches to get the desired results. Wenger as he is now can not lead Arsenal FC to win any major trophy no matter the caliber… Read more »
Too bad we can’t get a Europa manager/coach squad like the playing squad. Lehman to be head coach/manager with Per along side him, say.
So… basically everyone?
I don’t agree with it but knowing Wingers style he is probably gonna try and introduce Reiss Nelson in the first team. I can’t lie he is a talent but I still don’t agree with letting go of Ox. We have a little bit of hope So jack might provide so good performances but this Arsenal team is still full of doubt.
Well, he’s gone so disagreeing is a fairly pointless exercise. Plus, it appears he was becoming disruptive so it was probably best to get him out. And, watching the England game on Mon, I’m not entirely sure it was a *terrible* decision… for £40m!
Yeah, he’s hopeless in centre mid, going to be interested how long klipperty will stick with him there for the scousers.
It was interesting watching him play for England as a non-Arsenal player. Still wanted him to do well, still excited by his speed, energy and skill, still frustrated when he overruns a simple dribble thru midfield or runs the balls out of play. It will really be interesting to see whether Klopp and his team can “coach” him over next 18 months to improve in those areas.
Most Arsenal fans are feelings bad because of the management the fans have to be happy because they are taxpayer too.
Normally Arsenal always takes these small trophies but Wenger Should concentrate on what he is doing otherwise
How come Matt Macey is in there I thought he went on loan to Luton again
No Santi.. really sad.
Anybody notice that our midfield is less exposed with Elneny than it is with Ramsey …yes Elneny and Xhaka works better than Ramsey and Xhaka….Elneny is more disciplined and keeps it simple.
1000% agree. Ramsey is better as Number 10 (backup to Ozil, or rotate based on opposition) or even as right winger in 4-3-3 like a couple of years back.
Delighted to see Tolaji Bola and The Jeff included in the squad.
Essentially we have two squads : in 3-4-3 : ……………………..Alexis……….Lacazette……………………….. ………………………………..Ozil……………………………………. Kolasinac………………………………………………………Bellerin …………………Granit………………..(????)………………………… …………..Monreal………..Koscielny…………Mustafi…………… ……………………………….Cech…………………………………… Arguably Giroud, Alexis and Lacazette rotate, there is no PLan B, just depends if we benefit from more mobility (with Lacazette and Welbeck) or from a bit more presence muscling into the box with Giroud. The midfield partner for the flawed but indispensable Granit will have to be either of Jack or Iwobi or Coquelin. Ramsey is better in the Ozil position. If we switch to 4-2-3-1 (assuming we find some better balance in midfield) : …………………………….Giroud………………………………….. Alexis………………………Ozil………………………….Lacazette ……………….Granit…………………(????)……………………… Kolasinac…………………………………………………….Bellerin …………………..Koscielny………..Mustafi………………………. ………………………………Cech…………………………………… Walcott is an… Read more »
Odd to see Debuchy, but it’d be perfect to use him to save Bellerin for the league.