Arsenal head to the King Power looking to (temporarily) climb above Sp*rs. Having only returned to London on Friday morning from Greece, it’s shaping up to be a tough ask against a Leicester side flying high in third place.
Here are the official line-ups.
Arsenal: Leno, Cedric, David Luiz, Mari, Tierney, Xhaka, Elneny, Pepe, Smith Rowe, Willian, Lacazette
Subs: Ryan, Holding, Bellerin, Partey, Ceballos, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Aubameyang
Leicester: Schmeichel, Castagne, Evans, Soyuncu, Thomas, Ricardo, Ndidi, Tielemans, Barnes, Iheanacho, Vardy
Subs: Ward, Daley-Campbell, Amartey, Fuchs, Tavares, Albrighton, Under, Choudhury, Mendy
Why is Willian starting? All for Saka getting a rest but please play Martinelli instead!
Makes feel quite ill, his comments in the week that he never wanted to leave Chelsea. I think if fans were in stadiums Arteta would have already lost his job. A midfield of Xhaka and Elneny must terrify opposition 😂
It was certainly an eye-opening interview with Willian, wasn’t it. I don’t think I had a strong impression at the time that he wanted to leave Chelsea but his comments show that he was certainly a relatively unwilling addition to our squad – albeit a hugely expensive one in terms of wages/contract etc. Nothing can be done now of course. He’s perfectly entitled to say for the full three years of his contract with us should he wish to.
Don’t you look like a real ahole slating ating an arsenal player based on fake news that suits your personal agenda?
Don’t you look like a real ahole slating an arsenal player based on fake news that suits your personal agenda? The truth is what everyone wants to be true.
Willian must play in every game – it’s in his contract.
This is only a rumour. If it’s TRUE I find it hard to understand how we put ourselves in a position that a player has such a powerful condition
Well it’s clearly bollocks as he hasn’t played every game
I strongly doubt even Arsenal would agree to such a daft condition (and I realise that, given some of the previous contracts the club has entered into, it’s a possible hostage to fortune). The £7 million a season for three seasons for a plyer into his thirties was/is ample reward, surely?
*player
Great defending by Mari. Amazing signing. Natural defender
Willian is obviously starting to make those runs in behind to pick up through balls from our midfield maestros, Xhaka and, erm, Elneny?
Elneny AND Willian starting? I would’ve been ok with one of them but not both. I’ve suddenly got a bad feeling
Xhaka Elneny and.. Willian against Leicester who are one of the fastest teams in the league? I’m all for rotation but come on. Slowly slowly backwards here we go.
All my hopes on Smith Rowe here – unfairly marginalised by odegaard, get him on the ball!
“unfairly marginalised” – oh come off it, he’s still getting plenty of time and we got Odegaard in to share playing time with him.
ARTETA OUT
This is the perfect, possibly last for some, opportunity to prove themselves. Come on!
I hope Arteta isn’t afraid to make half-time substitutions if things aren’t working…..
Not if your name is Willian it isn’t
Ser Willian sends his LOLs.
Willian has had about 803 ‘last opportunities’!
Willian’s last opportunity is his next
I feel that’s unfair on the likes of Pepe. I’d like to see him in our so called best starting 11 for at least 6-10games in a row before throwing in the towel
Wow, a lot more rotation than I anticipated…..
If it works he’s a genius, he’s saved tired legs for bigger things. Being sensible with Saka who many were saying needs a rest.
If it fails it’s all on him, his team decision isn’t good enough. His substitutions lacking. He may be a coach but does he know how to manage players? Expectations.
Either way all we can say now is he’s a confident man that Arteta.
Apart from Willian instead of Martenelli (or anyone else), seems sensible enough.
Holding for Luiz. He slows the game down and a potential liability. Also it is his second game in 3 days. Holding his paying for his mistakes against City and Villa. Villa wasn’t his fault in my opinion as a defender he tried to be cover the forward run, and at the same time being able to anticipate the cut back, Gabriel as more at fault for not covering more angles.other than that the line up is sensible. Hope Laca and Pepe show hunger!
Have a sneaking feeling I’m not the only one who’d prefer to see Partey/Martinelli rather than Elneny/Willian. Little bit of a sigh. But let’s hope these 11 can go out there and get it done. Come on!
How predictable is the Willian start? It’s like Arteta is vindicated in persisting with Willian all this time by a semi-decent cameo. And the Xhaka Elneny midfield combination may well bore Leicester into error.
Shite!
Why is Martinelli sidelined again?? Someone please, please, please give me a reasonable explanation why favoring Willian and Elneny over the young, motivated lads?
I mean Elneny is a nice chap, but come on… Our game will be so painfully predictable again
Balogun is out the door most likely. You have to wonder what Martinelli must be thinking. As for Elneny, agreed, nice guy but Elneny + Xhaka = treacle
Exactly agree and Martinelli better defence that William . Also scores more goals .
William at Chelsea was v good at corners a d free kick s but at AFC he can’t be bother to take them. Let’s other people, ( Hope he takes them set pieces today today v.well)
The man doesn’t take any risk on the pitch, this is what makes so freakin mad regarding him. Tipping left and right on the sideline getting the ball moving the ball making a 60-70% “sprint” dribbling the ball with the lowest risk possible… My coach used to call these lads ALIBI players, damn right he was!
I think Arteta wants to keep things solid till 60 odd minutes and then bringing on Partey, Saka and Auba. It could be a dull game because of Thursday action of both teams but Vardy you sneaky ass!
Because he signed willian. Wants to justify HIS decision. Honestly believe he is solely intent on doing things his way. The more Martinelli (like saliba) plays the more likely he is to play well and become harder to drop. I suspect he doesn’t want that decision as he has a stronger relationship with older players and probably had deeper conversations with them and assured. Can’t prove it and may well be wrong but there’s not much doubt in my mind. The guy has made so many poor decisions for the this club and its mostly due to a stubborn personality.… Read more »
I think you might be onto something.
xhaka and elneny must be with the worst midfield i can remember since i started watching arsenal
The Flamini-Chambers axis for a couple of weeks (while we only had Leicester competing with us for the title…) may take that crown tbh
It’s the Stepanovs-Luzhny of midfields
Luzhny wasnt a bad player to be fair maybe he was past his best when we signed him . remember him being good against us for kiev at wembley then never that great for us. (he probably still gets in this team). stepanovs ill give you that one!
Also flamini would get in this team easily. could have been a decent player if he didnt leave for milan,
It’s absolutely awful, regardless of result today.
Apparently still good enough to outplayed a Leicester midfield
I at least hope Pepe is starting on the left
Don’t be so sure!
Wasn’t Willian on the left when he “assisted” Tierney. I’d hazard a guess to say Arteta, ever the reactionary, will think he’s discovered some magic formula that supersedes his success playing Pepe on the left. Hope I’m wrong
Rotation badly needed so I get the changes. Hopeful Mikel is seeing more from Willian and he proves himself today. This tells me how we are prioritising Europe over domestic though. I hope Vardy has a follow through fart and needs to depart the pitch early on…
Positivity key! COYG!!!!!
Yeah, I didn’t want to do well in the league anyway. League success is for losers.
Lose this game and our league season is over. No chance of even a top 6 finish and its only feb28th that is a disgrace for a club like Arsenal.
Why isn’t Gabriel starting? And why is pepe on the right when he’s shown he can play better on the left
Horrible line up, I’m normally optimistic but can’t see us getting anything here
Really worried by that line up. Can’t see where we’re going to score from at all. Still, I’ve been annoyed at ESR not playing at 10 lately so hopefully he can drag the others through because that looks a bit toothless
Front 3 looks a bit Albert Steptoe toothwise
Willian! Good grief.
Pleased to see Cedric getting a start on the right. He’s looked quite good there.
Great to see Willian start. Hope he has a stunning game. Sick of all the anti-Arsenal comments and negativity. Just support, for God’s sake!
Cedric will be a great replacement for Bellerin. Willian should be Martinelli, Chambers for Holding (needs rest), otherwise with bench as strong as available but Willian should never have been included.
Sometimes arteta makes me think he’s approaching the league like FIFA manager mode, putting in Willian coz he’s ranked at 83
Let’s be honest: this game is meaningless to us. We’re gonna finish somewhere mid-table. I’d have made MORE changes. Why not start that Aussie goalkeeper? He could do with a game.
Our season is the Europa League now: I couldn’t give a toss about this game.
Man, we should win every goddamn game cuz we are Arsenal!
Common sense 11 Bellerin looked out on his feet Thursday, Soares should be fresh Smith-Rowe was on the bench last weekend, and only picked up 60 minutes Thursday This is why we loaned Odegaard, not to replace, but to add an extra body in busy periods Saka had to be rested at some point, he’ll be a big miss, but it’s better to rest him for a game, than risk losing him for a prolonged injury, or burning him out longer term, The concern is Tierney at left back, maybe get Saka on for the last 20-25minutes I’ve got concerns,… Read more »
All for changes considering the hectic schedule, but Arteta’s selections do confuse me sometimes.
Line-up gives me a bad feeling after having a good feeling if we had played our (near) strongest line-up. Ok, cannot know who absolutely needs to rest, but without a game for another week, so many?
It sure looks like Arteta has got something against Martinelli
looks like he has a problem with him.
its worring that he bases all his selections on how players train and not performance in matches.
Saliba Guendouzi Martinelli. 3 very promising young players Arteta has failed to use at all this season
That’s if he really does base it on training
For me the biggest question at the moment in regards to team selection is the consistent inclusion of David Luiz. It seemed we were moving on from him and I actually thought holding and Gabriel were forming a decent partnership early in the season. For me Luiz takes too long on the ball and isn’t good enough to justify the mistakes he makes.
I’m starting to ask myself the question….. are we going to give him another contract extension in the summer?
Gabriel not even on the bench so I wonder if he’s injured….
Good point – didn’t see that!
Would still prefer holding over Luiz though, think he’s been very solid all season
You would have thought Luiz would need a rest more than Gabriel.
Arteta clearly has his favourites, who are probably the fans least favourites.
Yes Arteta loves him so i can see him staying.
Same with Ceballos and Xhaka he seems to love them as well for some reason.
Fucks me off why he picks teams like this but we all knew it was coming, martinelli not playing yet again is concerning.
I’ve no idea what Willian brings to the team.
Auba was rested for ages when he came back from his family issue
Our slowest defence and midfield against Vardy. Sweet
“Insert mandatory outrage about the line-up comment here”
Can’t say I’m outraged but my disappointment if far outweighed by my complete lack of surprise. The Willian selection was least surprising of all.
Martinelli not starting is a disgrace…
at least Smith-Rowe is central
I still want Arteta to succeed, but quite honestly, where Willian is concerned, Arteta is compromised. #FWLWG
Hoping for Willian to be taken off, replaced by Martinelli who then promptly scores a hat-trick, points to Arteta and celebrates with wild, weird gesticulation.
I am not sure what to do with the fact that Willian has two assists today, and three (Tierney vs Benfica) in the last two. Is that supposed to last for the rest of the season like the three against Fulham?
Sorry, that was unnecessary and harsh, but my disdain for that guy has built up over the season and now he is actually doing something which leaves me ill-equipped to deal with he change in the status quo.
That’s it from the live commentary lite, cheers for the 3 points, and at no point today, after first 20 or so minutes did we look like losing.
Where’s Partey?
Can you read? He’s on the bench.
Jesus that midfield, I suppose the plan is to submit Leicester to sideways passes.
Willian thoroughly deserves the start after doing one sprint and one successful pass.
Willian, Pepe, Xhaka, Elneny, Luiz – the 5 players who probably receive the most criticism from Arsenal fans – all starting today. If we get hammered say 3-0, Arteta isn’t going to be able to defend that, and it’s going to be a very long week…..
nelson, martenelli, guendouzi, M Niles Saliba.
id say we would do much better with players in the team arteta refuses to give chances to.
If we lose today we should start looking for a new manager IMO.
That is quite a strong bench.
An early Partey & Martinelli substitution would be nice. And maybe Saka late in the game?
Rotation had to happen at some point and hopefully Willian will bounce on from the KT “assist”. Imagine if he actually showed some of his former level. Wishful thinking perhaps, but wow it could be nice
Ouch!! Some changes I like, some are horrifying (will-i-aint), so not too confident!!!
Willian shall have a great game today. Today his stars shall align, and going forward he’ll be the player we’ve always hoped he’d be.
Well he’s already got an assist to his name
Message is clear. Focusing on EL.
I’m already taking couple pain killers before the game.
Good to see Saka being rested.
Common sense prevails for once.
If there is any proof of why MA has no love for Martinelli, this is it. He clearly doesn’t rate him and clearly has a thing for Willian. I hope he succeds but if that means young players’ confidence destroyed for old crocks then i hope he fails and gets the sack.
This lineup is not exciting at all.
The average mental strength of this lineup is very low, and I don’t see them putting up a good fight and giving us a good game against Leicester.
Mari is having a bad game this far, shame!!!
Shit line up. Not expecting much.
FFS. What a shit show.
No wing play (no wingers), hybrid midfield (Xhaka and Elneny again). This is a loss. I’m sorry, but that’s the naked truth.
Xhaka and Willian combined to lose the ball and Mari backing off,
Nothing screams average quite like those 3 names.
We have to upgrade on Xhaka. He is so slow and can’t wait for when he no longer is playing for the Arsenal. We will never compete at the top with player of his ability.
I agree completely.
Some people are excited by his form. Personally I see his form as an opportunity to move him
I see Willian in the starting lineup and will be turning off the TV. I see free 3 points given to Leceister. I hope a miracle will happen but will not waste my time my watching.
Ok as expected already 1-0 down…
One can only hope it stays that way (not get worse) till half time and then we make a triple substitution – bring on Martinelli, Partey & Auba for Will-i-aint, Elneny and one other!!!
I was busy laughing at the comments in this chat and missed the goal – predictability it was for Leicester and only after six minutes!!! Gonna be a long 85 minutes to go!!!