Laurent Koscielny will not be available for Arsenal’s first Europa League game of the season because of suspension.
The French international is serving a one game ban because of the red card he picked up during the 5-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in our last European game.
Koscielny was shown the red for a foul on Robert Lewandowski during the game at the Emirates in March, and while it seems a bit harsh that he’s punished in a different competition in a different season, those are the rules.
Arsene Wenger is expected to rotate his squad for this game, as the Gunners face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in a lunchtime kickoff on Sunday.
It should see the likes of David Ospina, Rob Holding, Per Mertesacker, Mohamed Elneny, Alex Iwobi, Olivier Giroud and others get a run out, and there may even be room for a couple of young players, with Reiss Nelson a candidate to start at right wing-back.
Wenger spoke last week about the 17 year old, admitting it wasn’t his natural position, but said, “The only thing that you would say is that he is more of an offensive-minded player than a defensive-minded player, but then he has to learn that part of the job as well.
“He has a good engine and he’s a good dribbler as well, he can pass people, unbalance defences, open defences.”
Get Reiss in and give him some experience.
I doubt he’d have played anyway. I’ll be pissed off if he starts Nelson at RWB though. Play him in the front 3, that’s his position. Stick Ainsley at RWB.
100% agree
Haha yeah! “He can…unbalance defences, open defences.” yeah ours if played out of position!
There’s a lot of competition in that front 3 now and Iwobi needs some game time.
Personally I want a starting 11 that wouldn’t be playing in Chelsea, and completely rest our first 11. We don’t have enough full backs so I would play Nelson rwb, niles lwb, back three of Chambers, BFG, holding. Elnenny and willock in midfield, Walcott on the right, iwobi on the left and the HFB up top.
I especially want our full backs and centre mids to be fresh for the Chelsea game.
You’d hope Jack might make the squad as well? Though after seeing his comment on Tyrone Mings’ instagram you do wonder about his relationship with Arsene.
what comment is that jacob?
Mings has opened an academy and Wilshere asked if they would take 25-year-olds who don’t get playing time despite being fully fit and ready to go.
And yet he turned down the chance to play for Birmingham?
On sept 1. Jack made this comment to a post about Tyrone Mings Academy: “Do you take 25 year olds who can’t get a game? I’m fully fit and ready to go :-D”
Players are human beings you know….with a sense of humour…
Let him rest for the big game at the weekend.
Please don’t start the poor boys career as a bloody wing back. One bad performance and the ‘fans’ will jump straight on his back.
Looks as if Wenger is staying with 3 at the back in the short term after all.
Nelson to get a run out against Cologne makes a lot of sense, I just wonder if Debuchy will be involved?
I would like to see Jack start and Ntekiah get a game off of the bench.
The man needs to rest those aching achilles anyway! Was limping around for a good 10 mins on Sat..
Am I the only one who thought it was about his Achilles? Smart title.
He wouldn’t have played anyway.
Ospina, Chambers, Holding, Debuchy, Wilshere, Elneney, Theo, Giroud, Iwobi, Per and Nelson. More than enough to beat Koln. And an opportunity for lots of fringe players to show that they have what it takes at least to make the bench for PL matches.
Who plays left (wing) back?
Exactly
Maybe Nelson or Iwobi in the same way as AW used Ox or we can turn back to 4 defenders and go with Debuchy on the left. Or use Sead and in that case, maybe Nelson will sit on the bench.
Is Koln that weak that any team Arsenal puts out are suppose to beat them. Guys remember teams in the Europa League tend to be top 7 teams in some leagues as well as teams that got knocked out in qualifiers for CL. Just saying…
koln lost modeste the guy who scored 50% of their goals and have lost all 3 of their games with a minus 6 goal difference.
never underestimate how teams will turn up in europe though don’t want too weak a team.
Rostov beat bayern last year.
I’d keep Koscielny for the league and only use him if we get into the latter stages of knockout competitions.
If he gets injured? Our options are quite worrying.
Same with Xhaka and Rambo.
If we lose either of them? Or an extended period.
Coquelin is out.
That just leaves us with Elneny and Wilshere.
I’d really have liked us to have had a good crack at the Europa, but don’t think our squad is particularly strong in central midfield or defence.
Hopefully the stars align for us this season.
I’m confortable to have Elneny as backup after some good pre seasons..
He is O.K. But it was blindingly obvious we need a new CM in the transfer window. Why we didn’t replace the OX (with an actual CM) is beyond me.
Niles is a better option in center mid than Ramsey. His passing and ball retention are super.
I understand that a player needs to learn a few aspect of the game and thus defending is one of them, but I would not move Reiss much as it seems he is enjoying this position (stats talk)
Rest those achiles ready for Sunday
That is totally asinine! Silly arse rules like that need to be changed. There should be some type of time limit. Wenger really needs to take the Euro games very seriously. By winning the whole deal would give them entrance into the CL for next season just in case they end up outside the top four in the PL. the team that started the last game should be his starting team against Chelsea. They played well together and until they fall apart they are the ones to go with for games. Do not fiddle with something that works! Let’s see… Read more »
This rule makes sense. If a ban is wiped out at the end of the season, players can do almost whatever they like in each year’s final game.
The rule makes sense. The red card did not.
^This. Although at first blush it looked a penalty, you can see on the replay from behind the goal line that Lewandowski actually grabs Koscielny’s arm and then falls over. Far from a penalty and a red card, it should have been a booking to Lewandowski for simulation. Frankly, the ref had a mare in that match. We should have had a penalty in the first half for Walcott’s being pulled down from behind when clear in on goal, and it should have been a red card to the defender (forget who it was). Also, Vidal should have been sent… Read more »
He needs to learn to be a wing back?Here we go again. He’s about to start with Reiss Nelson. A few seasons down the line the chap would have failed to develop in any given position. Like Ox.
He played in that position in mid-season and did very well. However I agree his future is in a more attacking role.
Ospina
Holding / bfg / chambers
Reiss Nelson / ?
Wilshere / Elneny
Walcott / Giroud / Iwobi
I think Debuchy will play RWB
Yes. We actually pay him money you know.
and theo?
Hey Blogs
How confused will you be when on Thursday you turn the TV on and see its F.C. Köln we are playing and not Cologne..
they are one and the same.
Ozil doesn’t need to put in a shift in defence to convince me he is a world class player..he doesn’t have anything to prove to me..we just need to convert more of the chances he creates..and tell our DM to pay more attention to positional play..no one told Zidane, Ronaldinho and even DB to track back during their days…and we loved them for who they are..crazily talented lot..
Well said sir. Ozil belongs to the club of Zidane and Ronoldinho already too. When I coached I was a big stickler for everyone defending. One year I had a big head kid that was just a real special finishing passer. I wanted them to change the rules of the game so he could sit by me on the bench and run into the field every time we had the ball. I’m exaggerating but I wanted that kid fresh for as long as we could keep him fresh out there. Shamefully I didn’t tell him to do any defending. People… Read more »
I also agree about Nelson’s position
I pray we don’t ruin Nelson at wing back. He’s showing such promise at underage level for a 17 year old.
I would play the following 11: Ospina, Chambers, Mertersacker, Holding, Elneny, Wilshere, Kolasinac, Debuchy, Iwobi, Walcott, Nelson, Giroud. I would spare the others for more important game at Stamford Bridge.
We should be rotating anyways but Koscielny’s availability is starting to worry me.
Most of all this weekend, we saw the benefits of a sensible pick for the back line with reliance on experience of Mustafi, Koscielny and Monreal as our strongest options and we flourished on the other end.
Why we were going to risk selling Mustafi is beyond me.
According to David Ornstein his wife wanted to be nearer her family in Switzerland. With Arsenal being Arsenal I imagine we were happy to not stand in his way, despite potentially losing a great deal of money in the deal. That would be admirable if true, but I’d rather we acted I our own interests.