It’s the FA Cup semi-final against Man City at Wembley this evening. It’s Arteta v Guardiola. It’s the Arsenal defence against that attack.
It’s cup football, you never know.
Here are this evening’s official line-ups.
Arsenal: Martinez; Mustafi, Luiz, Tierney; Bellerin, Ceballos, Xhaka, Maitland-Niles; Pepe, Lacazette, Aubameyang
Subs: Macey, Sokratis, Torreira, Holding, Nelson, Willock, Kolasinac, Smith, Saka
Man City: Ederson, Walker, Garcia, Laporte, Mendy, Gundogan, D Silva, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling
Subs: Carson, Stones, Zinchenko, Bernardo, Rodrigo, Fernandinho, Cancelo, Otamendi, Foden.
Arsenal have lost their past seven meetings with Manchester City in all competitions, by an aggregate score of 20-2. Only against Leeds have Arsenal ever lost more consecutive matches in their history (eight).
Please break this!
We are so kind when it’s other teams terrible records. If a team hasn’t won a game for six months we let them win. If a striker hasn’t scored since 2018 we let him score. If a manager is about to get fired we make sure they get the three points.
Would it really be too much to ask for City to do the same for us?
And we’ve done our bit helping City maintain their record league points haul by beating Liverpool Surely they can let us have this one right?
They have Jesus on their team? We’re doomed.
We’ve got Emi, a saviour capable of a few miracles of his own!
Let’s hope hustle is worth more than gold in this one!
Too bad they have us beat on hustle too.
Arteta is so adamant that no one gets written off that I imagine he’ll be calling up Jay Emmanuel-Thomas next…
Don’t recall the sub Smith? Another youth? I should know but sadly I don’t…
Also back 4 then?
Maybe. Or AMN in the Kola role or even wB with Tierney inside of him. Not as tall as Kola, but faster and better on the ball. Might be a better matchup to City’s pace.
Possibly. Good shout ?
Back 3
I understand the logic behind this formation and personnel, I hope it pays off.
That looks like it could be a back 4 with Niles in the middle. Not a bad way to go at all.
**Niles in the Midfield alongside Xhaka and Ceballos
Might be a back four in possession, but I suspect it will be a back 5 without the ball with AMN as left wingback
It’s 3-4-3
Probably Ains at left wing-back in a 3-4-3
I suspect it’ll be a back 11 for most of the game unfortunately!
Exciting times! Not our strongest bench to change the match, but let’s hope our starting 11 hold they’re own! COYG!
Ooh Tierney at CB? I like it…
Am I the only one doesn’t understand why holding is not starting this one? I thought he did really well against United, and is in my opinion better than both mustafi and Luiz
I was really hoping he would get the nod. Gotta put a little faith in the boss and hope for the best.
Luiz and Mustafi have been selected ahead of Holding because they’re more consistent in the big games in making blunders.
Possibly because he’s coming back from a serious injury, had a hard game and his minutes are being carefully managed?
Holding has been a bit iffy too in some of his recent games, understandable given that he’s just coming back and those 2 factors are probably why he’s not starting.
Arteta knows!
Holding is not a good passer from back,Mikel wants players that can passout from back which is not really good at,watch liverpool match n u will see hw much he losses ball under pressure…
Not sure why Pepe gets to start again.
He made his name with counter attacking goals.
Well,
hope is the last thing that dies from a human.
Let’s do a Liverpool-game again!
We can win this.
#COYG
May the Gods of football preserve us
Ooh heck! Not sure of anything positive at moment, but neither did I in the last semi final against this lot.
City feeling confident, not fielding a DM with both Fernandinho and Rodrigo on the bench
AMN .. is there a possibility he is in midfield and tierny as LB in back 4?
Was thinking of an extra midfielder as blogs mentioned..
But that had to be torreira
Ainsley at LWB? Or maybe (and this would be more exciting to me) as a ball-winning, high-engine DM, sort of in the mold of what Coq used to offer us?
Why no Holding?
Going to be outnumbered in the middle again so hopefully we can build up and create from the wide positions
Feel for rob holding not getting 2 games in a row.
Unless City put it to bed early, every time they lose the ball, Pep’s gonna shit.
It would be profoundly satisfying, I mean wet-dream-worthy, if we could leave Pep as gobsmacked and frustrated as we did Klopp in midweek. Wow …
You’re absolutely spot on so far.
Holding are Torreira are puzzling omissions, given how well Holding played last game, and with city outnumbering us in midfield with the quality they have, I would have expected the best tackling midfielder in our team to be in
Probably just a matter of those two having started and played with gusto against Liverpool a few days ago, meaning they might be a little light in the tank as they haven’t been starting matches regularly. I’m sure Arteta is looking forward to putting them in during the second half to lock down the game!
Hopefully! As long as we don’t do silly stuff in the first half?
Who’s Smith? Is this the young kid who has been training with the first team since we came out of lockdown?
Matt Smith, has a good eye for a pass, by that I mean an Ozil type pass.
Does he have a strong back?
A strong side. COYG!
I’m scared “hold me”….:-)
Arteta mostly comes with that bit/slight surprises in team selection. I like that element that avoids being predictable. Best wishes boys. So excited and tensed up as well.
Doesn’t make sense we’re parking the bus this way.
Does it make sense now?
Thought I was the only one so unexpectably happy with this win catching up on arseblog posts… COYG
I miss the fans, at least to boo Kyle Walker. Cunt
Nobody say a fucking word.
We are super effecient. everything looked so gelled.
I’m beginning to wonder if there is a deliberate attempts to screw Arsenal by the VAR guys? Those guys should be publicly called out on any questionable call that they make, and held responsible. Referees can be excused because it’s in real time and the game can be real fast, but not the VAR guys who have the benefit of reviewing the videos. They have no excuse and any sign of corruption and bias should be publicly punished without compromise.
Holy fucking shit we did it! That was the most committed defensive performance. So fucking steely. Great goals too! Now let’s take that form into the final!
As mentioned before, he has played fullback/wiingback for 4 seasons now. If anything, he needs to nail down that position. Perhaps he may have an opportunity should Kolasinac maybe be sold or in a season down. Today’s performance apparently encouraging. he has the physical attributes to work the position but just has (like many in the team) to get switched on. I think if he can impress Arteta there, then we can figure out whom to sell either Kolasinac or AMN and whom to keep as surrogate to Tierney. But I still think it will be dangerous to have him… Read more »