Arsenal begin the new Premier League campaign today at Craven Cottage, taking on newly promoted Fulham.
Here are today’s official line-ups.
Fulham: Rodak, Hector, Odoi, Kebano, Cairney, Ream, Cavaleiro, Reed, Bryan, Onomah, Kamara
Subs: Areola, Christie, Le Marchand, Anguissa, Knockaert, Cordova-Reid, Mitrovic
Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Xhaka, Willian, Lacazette, Aubameyang
Subs: Macey, Kolasinac, Ceballos, Willock, Saka, Pepe, Nketiah
saliba not even on bench?
Patience, he’s only 19….
Rotation is inevitable. Arteta must think Gabriel is more ready right now. And that if a central defender gets hurt, we’ll switch to a back 4.
exactly if gabriel/holding gets injured, who comes in?
I don’t know. I’m clearly rationalizing.
Kolasinac, Tierney move to center.
Mustafi
screwed my fantasy team.
Daily mirror said William s. Would be playing as Gabriel not able to play , so put William in my fantasy team
, Had a feeling elneny would start rather than Dani c. Tho all media said other way round.
should not have listened and of course p.e a.
Anyone else got arsenal fantasy players in their team ?
Auba, Tierney and Saliba all start in my team, too bad saliba didn’t make the squad.
Aubs Willan and Saliba
Auba, K.T. Saliba and Willian in mine
Macey played last night. Have to get a new keeper quick if EMI is going
Let’s slay Fulham! #COYG
I smell a thumping from Arsenal. 6 nil
That’s an surprising lineup.
Elneny?
I think he will surprise you this season
I will be surprised if you will be surprised
Hi
He’s good, man! Never understood the negativity about him. Unai didn’t like him, that’s all. But Wenger rated him and he always shows up and he is solid in the middle of the park, makes the odd great incisive pass. Cebellos has definitely got more zip in his game and brings something extra, creatively, but Elneny’s slightly more defensive mindset suits plenty of situations.
A very nice China friendly team! Btw, have the newcomers accepted the infamous 12,5% pay cut?
Didn’t winning the FA Cup reduce it to 7.5%?
Nope, a Europa League qualification this season would, and a CL qualification would mean they get full wages.
Results of last season aren’t tied to the pay cuts.
didn’t winning the cup mean getting europa league and hence 7.5%
We get it Alex. You love Ozil, you’re not too pushed about any other Arsenal player or Manager. We. Get. It.
“Infamous”
Eager to see how we set up our defense, looking like we ain’t going for a back 3 and why is Saliba not even on bench? We possibly can’t do a back 3 with 2 left footed players
Why not? As far as the second left footer is in the middle, I don’t see a problem
Gabriel, Holding, Tierney back 3
Definitely a back 3 with Gabriel centre. I think people need to remember Saliba is 19! He’s younger than Zech Medley, the price tag is indicative of his potential, not his current ability.
Why does nobody say that about right footers?
4-3-3 with Willian from the left or 4-4-2 diamond with Willian as number 10?
Either way, midfield doesn’t look particularly convincing. But let’s hope it’s enough for today.
COYG!
Looking at that team, it’s not a back 4
No Martinez in the squad. I know The Guardian reported that yesterday but still very sad to see he’s likely leaving….
Excited to see the newcomers in action! COYG!
This is probably confirmation that Martinez will leave. Also a bit surprise that Saliba is not on the bench.
Surprised*
Yeah, I agree.
Martinez is gone.
Don’t really mind if he rakes im 20m+
Depends who is his replacement and how much we pay for him
If it’s Raya for £10mil
… I won’t be happy
You like your good, old suspense, don’t you?
oh my God, hope Saliba has not picked up a late injury
Well I certainly didn’t expect anything like this. Very interested for how this is going to go. And I have zero clue as to how this is actually going to line up ??
My fantasy premier league just got trashed vis a vis saliba yikes
There was never any indication that 19 year old Saliba was going straight into the first 11.
I’m aware, I took a gamble based on our injuries and thought Gabriel would be a bit too green, but Mikel knows best
No Õzil in the team… Im surprised especially after much talk that he will be at least be on the sub bench.
So the management is still trying to frustrate him to leave when he is clearly not interested to do that.
Arterta might as well maximise his remaining time at Arsenal…
Talk from who? He’s behind even Nelson who also isn’t on the bench today.
I didn’t expect him to make the starting XI, but I would have thought he could have made the bench.
Still, you have to put your faith in Arteta.
Come on you reds!
But if he played, would it be worth it? On the rare occasions Õzil has appeared, he’s been pretty average putting it politely. I’d agree with you if he had been really good then, at least, we’d be getting something back for £18.2 million a year. He may still get an odd few minutes at sometime this season, but let’s push on until next June as best we can without him (which will almost certainly better than with him nowadays) when this long-running nightmare will end.
I would be amazed to see Ozil feature in anything other than Europa League games this season. Would love to be pleasantly surprised if he did drive his way into the team – I guess if injuries got bad there’s a chance. With Mikel, it’s all about team spirit and buy-in. Are you part of his vision, or not? And Ozil has just sat on the sidelines watching, neither buying in or buying out. And that’s not good enough for Mikel. He’s happy to get left behind, I guess. Shame, really, as he has so much talent.
Biggest surprise is Elneny starting, glad he is being given a chance. Could be Arteta really likes something about his style of play (consistent, but certainly non-spectacular).
Well if the back 3 is wat we re playing all game I don’t see a need for ozil actually..
I would rather he don’t feature at all than play nd get slacked for not tracking back
Nipple on the bench! They’ve got a nipple on the bench!!
Ceballos and Nketiah pre-match scuffle.
The scuffle between Ceballos and Eddie in the warmup was untoward. I hope it’s just an isolated incident and Arteta puts his foot down.
yes what was that about!
What? Didn’t see this
Looked like Dani was being a dick from the video I saw
Seemed the aggressor, anyway. Hope it’s not something that will unsettle Eddie, who as the younger guy could end up feeling pretty weird about it.
Nothing more satisfying than a debut goal! Congratulations, Gabriel!