Arsenal have confirmed that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will miss this evening’s clash with Man Utd as he continues to attend to a family matter.
The absence of the skipper is a blow, but Mikel Arteta can take encouragement from how well a front three of Nicolas Pepe, Alexandre Lacazette and Bukayo Saka worked in the 3-1 win over Southampton on Tuesday.
There’s also good news in that both Thomas Partey and Emile Smith Rowe are available for selection after both were substituted in the game at St Mary’s.
Kieran Tierney continues to be assessed and a late decision will be made on his participation – should he miss out then Cedric Soares is expected to deputise again, with Ainsley Maitland-Niles set for a loan move to either West Brom or Southampton.
New goalkeeping signing Mat Ryan misses out with a slight hip injury, while Pablo Mari won’t be considered despite his return to full training.
Here we go! COYG
Let’s play with the same lineup like with Southampton… Tierney should be on the bench and not risked. I would be glad if we could sign a left full back on loan
We have both Cedric and Saka who can fill in if necessary. However rumours say we are interested in Doig from Hibernian
When saka came on as a right winger against Southampton in the cup match .. we were bright for a spell of 5-10 mins, then we moved him back to that LWB position, his impact was reduced in that deeper role
Hence I would prefer him performing the way he has been in attack
We’ll have to get a move on to bring anyone in before the window closes. Just about enough time left to agree a loan I would think.
I would say if Tierney is fit, start him this game and rest him against Wolves.
Auba won it for us last time, let’s win it for him this time. COYG!
Actually I would say the Partey – Elneny partnership in the middle won it for us last time!
Yeah, I reckon they are a good shout again against Fernandes, Pogba and Mctominay. So glad Partey is fit. We would have had to more or less park the bus in midfield without him. Now I feel like we can take it to them through the middle.
Who to partner him? Xhaka is in form, Elneny’s mobility could be useful to counter their fast, high tempo middle. Over to you Mikel.
Hope Tierney makes it but not if we are taking too much of a risk, we need him fit for the rest of the season.
Great that ESR and Partey are available, MO on the bench I’m guessing.
I think he has been rested FOR this game, hes training and looks fine.
Mari is the biggest miss for me
Agreed, I’d like him back, though happy to make do with Gabriel if Mari needs time.
I really feel for Auba. I hope he’ll be ok through this. I just want to say thank you to Andrew and all the arseblog crew for all the content that has entertained me for so many years. I also really love the comments section on here. Seeing all the regular names, wondering who you all are and sharing in some laughs and debates has kept me sane particularly over the last year. So thank you, all!
You know I’ve often done the same in regard to fellow arsebloggers, wondering who people are even what they might look like, what their favourite dishes are, darkest secrets… I digress, it’s certainly been part of my covid sanity reading, but then again it was for at least ten years prior as well, days like these is what we do it for lads… COYG!
Best wishes to Auba and his family.
I do the exact same thing only I’m happy to share that my dark secret is my love for Danish erotica. Especially a certain “Both Sides” autobiography by a chap called Nicklas.
COYG!
Why doesn’t @arseblog set up an Arseblog zoom call for all the regulars to join in and have a FRIENDLY open discussion about all things Arsenal. That way you can indeed get to see everyone and it become a bit more personable.
Not sure why we’re revealing team news on the morning of the match – giving an advantage to our opponents. Nevertheless, I don’t remember Pepe ever having a good game against a top quality side, so I’m really hoping Martinelli get’s the nod on the left today.
But Arteta doesn’t like to change a winning team so I can see the exact same 11 starting today that beat Southampton.
I’d like to see Martinelli start mostly due to his ability to press, and his running and super high workrate. Reckon he’d give ol’ tubby McGuire fits.
Pepe has scored against man u. Martinelli isn’t ready to start yet but I’d love to see him come off the bench.
Pepe has some good games but overall he’s been a disappointment so far as most of us know (even if we don’t admit it). However, all is not lost and it would do him (and Arsenal) a power of good to turn in a performance against Utd in this important game. As they say, when the going gets tough, the tough pull their finger out. The Utd game would be an ideal opportunity for Pepe to remove his digit!
A blow, but Laca is doing pretty well currently. They’ll all need to be on top form as Utd will be looking for a win following their shock defeat against Sheffield Utd. We can’t take anything for granted, or be complacent, despite the good win against Southampton.
Might get some thumbs down for this, but does anyone remember when Xhaka put in a couple of very good performances at actual Left Back I think under Emery a couple of seasons ago?
He wont bomb beyond his winger much if at all. But he could probably manage some quality deliveries from deep and switches of play, and is usually a committed defender. Could be an option if the RBs filling in don’t work out more often than not?
cant tackle cant run makes loads of stupid fouls and you want him at left back with rashford and martial running at him into the box.
not for me clive
Tierny so far as good as he is has shown he can’t be trusted to be fit for consecutive games we should be looking for a left back to fill in
Mat Ryan injured – Wrap Leno in cotton wool!
Auba slowly but surey morphing into the new Ozil