Arsenal take on Portsmouth tonight in the FA Cup 5th round. Mikel Arteta has made some changes to the side …
Here are tonight’s official line-ups.
Portsmouth: Bass, McRorie, Bolton, Burgess, Seddon, Close, McGeehan, Williams, Evans, Harness, Harrison
Subs: MacGillivray, Raggett, Whatmough, Naylor, Cannon, Marquis, Curtis
Arsenal: Martinez, Sokratis, Luiz, Mari, Saka, Guendouzi, Torreira, Nelson, Willock, Martinelli, Nketiah
Subs: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Holding, Xhaka, Ceballos, Pepe, Lacazette
The top 4 door is wide open for Arteta and the boys. They should make a real push for it. Who knows?
8 points off Chelsea. Okay, we have a game in hand, but it’s against Man City. Wouldn’t call that exactly “wide open”.
Team as expected though surprised to see Saka in there. I think the club need to be very careful with how much he is played. I maintain playing Wilshere so much between 18-19 years of age is what caused his injury issues.
Sport medicine has changed in last 10 years.
Says the doctor
I agree. And i m scared. What is wrong with AMN for taking so much risk with an 18years old ? Did someone saw the u23 game were he played left back ?
Wow mate. As if Wilshere is the only one played football at high level at his age.
I am not a doctor but I believe there are some people you are 1. very unlucky 2. Injury prone 3. Their style of play invites danger. And wilshere ticked all three boxes.
Why does arteta hate AMN?
Benched is okay
I think he’ll get on.
This. We deserve an explanation.
I like AMN. but why are you sure it’s hatred? what if it’s the “non negotiables” everyone loved to hear?
Did Ainsley tell Arteta that he was going bald or something?
I have very grave concerns over Arteta’s grasp of proper rotation.
He’s said he’s not going to rotate for the sake of it. Seems fair
I did read that. But Luiz is 33 & Saka is 18. Does he want to see who breaks first?
I assume Mustafi is hurt, and I wonder if Luiz might be getting the start over Holding because Arteta is thinking that if Mari does well, the Mari-Luiz partnership will be what he goes with going forward, so may as well test it out now. (Plus he may not trust rusty Holding with new Mari.)
Arteta also said having a tired squad contributed to the Europa League loss. Rotating for the sake of rotating, bad, rotating because no one can play every game of the season is the reality all teams face. He’ll figure it out of course.
What are we rotating for?
We had a 2 week break, went out of the league cup 4th round.
Europa league round of 32.
These are professional athletes, we’re 10th in the league, and only have the FA cup left to play for.
The least they can do is make sure we do enough to put away Portsmouth, and have a Quarter final to look forward to.
I have to say, I only realised the stupidity of posting this in a match where he made 9 changes after the game kicked off (I am quite tired). But after that break (which was only two weeks) pretty much the same team played 4 games in 11 days. After Arteta had stated they weren’t fit enough just a month before. I sat through that entire Olympiacos game and some players looked fucked after 30 minutes. I watched our best striker run himself into the ground on the wing, not being able to get into striking positions and by the… Read more »
Me likey!
Ok young lads, shred ‘em!
Apparently, Ronan Curtis is an Arsenal fan. I bet Cannon is, too!
I’m still gutted about Thursday. COYG.
Indeed. I think everyone related to Arsenal needs a big performance today.
I looked at the Portsmouth starting lineup and tries to convince myself those names weren’t just made up but then I saw their bench and had a good laugh.
Nice one Bloggs
? It’s so offensive to say this but Whatmough sounds more like a question than a surname
What’s up with AMN.. constantly on the bench… appears he hasn’t proved himself to MA
Saka being managed well? Wouldn’t want him to get injured.
This is where I call bullshit on players getting a chance if they perform. Florin Balogun has been smashing goals in this season, Lacazette couldn’t hit the arse end of a cow of he was holding its tail. Give the kid a chance. Theres enough quality in the side to be beating a league one side if not might as well close the turn styles
I’m sure if Lacazette had been playing u23 football he would have been too.
Wow why is it okay for a player to elbow one of ours in the face and for another to savage the leg (broken or ligaments) of one of our players!!!! No sending off, nothing!!! Probably the end of Torreira’s season – thanks Pompey!!!
Ugh it’s that bell Mike Dean refering the game!!! Pompey could probably get away with bringing hatchets onto the pitch and savaging the arsenal players!!! That bloke is an embarrassment to his profession!!!
Luiz and Sokratis painfully slowing up the pace for us
The way mike dean is refereeing this so far I’m calling a ridiculous decision or two going against us.
There’s one already. A petty yellow for Guendouzi and not long after their player gets away with a late tackle on Willock.
Not able to watch the game so following it on Arseblog. Who is the cunt who snapped Torreira’s ankle? He needs justice!
Secure enough goals and let the clock run into injury time and someone break his fucking face. Take the three games for the team.
Oh, and Mike Dean is a cunt!