Arsenal face Wolves this evening at Molineux, looking for three points to continue the recent run of good form.
Here are the official line-ups.
Wolves: Patricio, Boly, Coady, Kilman, Neto, Moutinho, Neves, Semedo, Adama, Podence, Willian
Subs: Ruddy, Hoever, Silva, Gibbs-White, Dendoncker, Vitinha, Richards, Otasowie
Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Luiz, Cedric, Xhaka, Partey, Smith Rowe, Saka, Pepe, Lacazette
Subs: Runarsson, Gabriel, Chambers, Elneny, Ceballos, Odegaard, Willian, Martinelli, Aubameyang
Our strongest bench in a while, and saka is back! Let’s get a win today. COYG
It has to support Chambers bionic leg and Ceballos’ ego.
I was amused even if no-one else was
Best possible starting 11 as well considering the situation. No regular full backs on the bench 🙁
We actually have a nice squad when everyone is fit, on paper at least
Cheated out by the inept ref it seems. How can you not check VAR for something as big as a red card and penalty? F*cking idiots
It feels like ages since we’ve had such strong options from the bench!
We were destined for 6th spot after what was shaping up to be a dominant win over Wolves, but alas … another red card. An entire half against one of the hardest working teams in the league can only mean one thing for us… such a shame.
Not even a foul mate. I don’t like blaming refs but he proper f*cked us up. Didn’t even bother to check Boly’s potential foul on Saka, and didn’t bother to do the same when handing out a red card + penalty against us.
Yeah, you’re right — how this was allowed to stand by VAR is a solid reminder that human error is on both sides of the review.
Thats a half decent bench. Is everyone fit, apart from KT?
Ryan and Mari are still unavailable but should be ready for the weekend.
Good to see Pepe starting. I hope he scores today.
Good bench, may get to see Odegaard after 60-70 minutes
Triple change, Odegaard, Martinelli and Ceballos at the 70 min mark. Let’s get them firing!
Hang on, I believe you mean Willian, Willian, and Willian.
Goodly
Surely Willian should be given another chance…hasn’t been in the starting line-up for ages.
Willian lost his phone and also the compromising pics. His starting days are over.
Apparently no-one has noticed the sarcasm font.
The negative votes are an acknowledgement of the sarcasm
And where is Mustafi when you need him.
Somewhere in Germany presumably
You’re probably the only arse fan in the world who thinks that, that’s a lonely club…
Soild 2-0 win, another clean sheet, Partey will get his first goal.
Come on Arsenal!
Every time I’ve watched wolves recently since they lost Jiminez they have been utterly hopeless, home and away. Watch them become prime Barcelona this evening.
Think banter days are over and our boys (arteta included) have matured, so no rollover today. Will be hard but I believe in our win. COYG!
Exciting stuff! Saka back. Auba not a bad option from the bench either.
Breakout performance from Pepe?!! COYG!!
No Ozil?
He left Arsenal a fortnite ago.
👏👏
To play fortnite
Willian should have started.
Rather see you start.
…packing his bags…
I hope we get out of the blocks quickly. In January there were 0-0 draws with Man Utd, Palace, Newcastle (after 90 minutes), so let’s show some urgency from the first whistle.
Gabriel can’t get back into the team! Does Luiz have to make a cock-up before that happens?
Right on mate
Very strong line-up and bench, I can see a very bright performance coming up today!
Credit where it’s due to Edu for getting shot of some of the deadwood this January. I think the team will be a lot better now they have been streamlined and today’s squad is looking strong. COYG
I agree! I honestly thought if we get rid of mustafi (and ozil ofc) then he can really do busit, even if we just paid them to stink up the place somewhere else. He did that so kudos!
*do business
COYG….
Looks a reasonable selection. We really need all the points from this if we’re to finally begin to close the gap on some of the teams above us, and pull away from those immediately behind. Let’s hope we do.
Pepe on the left? I think it’s good for him to simpify his game/make him less predictable, allthough with Cedric might be little narrow
Exactly, good, and he offers the left footed option on the left which we miss with cedric at lwb, although most of the time pepe will go inside.
I know this point has been made a lot, but if Nelson can’t even get on the bench for a game tonight – midweek against mid-table opposition, sandwiched between two pretty challenging games – you have to wonder if we’ll see him again this season. Odd that he didn’t go on loan
I agree. I don’t understand it, he contributed well at the end of last season, scored against pool, thought mikel will make him our sancho this season, make him more important. I’m very disappointed with that. If he doesn’t want to use him at all, the at least loan him out!
Wolves have a player called Willian. Im going to assume he’s shit based on his name alone.
He’s a cousin of our willian, from Mexico, his parents moved there in the 50s.
And yes, he’s shit!
Martinelli ,Gabriel and Auba a fair bench we just need a more offensive and creative attacking mid fielder and this will be invincible
We can re-sign ozil on a 4yr contract on Messi wages (555m) after he starts banging 50 yard wondergoals in turkey now.
Bench looks great, Willian will help us address any tactical issues at half time
The winning streak involves Gabriel, Ceballos, and Willian on the bench. So we are winning this
Callum chambers on the bench!
Just feel for this game could do with an extra body in midfield but hopefully Pepe can do that whilst providing attacking outlet. Ie play his best game yet.
Will be tough v these but beware of counterattack and we can squeeze past them.
If we can get runs at semedo Kidman and boly there’s fouls in them lads so maybe a pen for Pepe or saka running at them
While admitting that Pepe has turned in a few reasonable performances, as you say we’re looking for something a little more “special” now. If he’s “going to do it” for us, it’s really at this time in the season that he needs to start. Let’s hope it’s tonight.
That was criminal
He’s become the new Mustafi
I don’t understand what Luis was thinking. How the fuck was he expecting to get away with it?
We anyway were creating so much, let him take the shot!
Not even a pen though. The guy accidentally kicked Luiz behind him. I thought VAR was supposed to clear up shit like that. They use it to analyse offside lines to the n’th degree but can’t see that it was the striker who kicked Luiz. Fucking joke.
Fucking idiot of a footballer.
When is arteta getting rid of luiz too? He’s always a calamity waiting to happen
Honestly I blame Arteta for that. 100% on him for playing Luiz
The problem choosing the team based on training performance is we don’t have this kind of referee in training. How many bloody times we have played a man down recently.
I wonder how bad is this Saliba guy so that Luiz is taking his job
That is where Arteta in his 1st managerial job is playing it safe, thinking experience is better than youth. It doesn’t work when the experience is inconsistent like Luiz or shot of confidence like Willian.
Its better trusting youth like Saka, Martinelli and even Saliba (he has made a difference at Nice already).
Very harsh red card imo. But Luiz made the mistake of losing his man and then was in a compromised position.
Everyone moaning about Luiz but in this instance he truly touched him hardly at all, if that.
He was out of position also
Very true, but losing your man and giving up a goal doesn’t deserve the same reaction as a boneheaded red card a la his history with us.
In what universe was that a penalty? VAR is a joke .
If you keep playing that liability this is what happens. Can’t wait until he is out of this club.
What do we call this rubbish that Luiz just did?
“He let the team down”
I’ve always hated Luiz but that is never ever a red card, nor is it a penalty. The Wolves player tripped over the ball for fucks sake.
Fucking Luiz. Never trusted him and thought that giving him a new year was a huge mistake, since he played criminally before getting a new deal. Would rather see Gabriel develop with us than this declining has been. Fuck! We had it all now the chances are pretty much against us in the 2nd half.
I know these are the easy talking points, but reality is a bit more complicated.
Holding plays better with Luiz. Gabriel is rusty. Lots of games lately. Settle down, we’ll win.
No, fuck you. That was never a red card and penalty. Never
It is if you are invested in disliking David Luiz and Arteta.
Luiz keeps picking up reds. When you age as a defender and you lose a yard on strikers these things become increasingly inevitable if a stubborn manager refuses to read the writing on the wall. Get rid.
I’m pretty sure that’s the plan. At the moment, it was him or Gabriel, and DL played well on Saturday.
Don’t think that’s a red, thought var was meant to sort that shite out, at least let the ref watch it again in super slow motion.
Exactly! A game changing situation that is in no way clear cut. What’s VAR for???
Fucking shit refereeing!
Hate on Luiz as much as you want, but this was never a penalty. And what is with this 5 second VAR check? Friggin hell.
it’s a penalty
Bloody hell!
I don’t even know who is to blame? I’ve got a sneaky feeling VAR fucked all things up again, but still Luiz is a time bomb in our hands. Shhhhit
Honestly Arsenal is the uluckiest team in the league wtf
What is this cursed fucking game
That liability does it once again.let him score and we still win 3 or 4-1.they better not renew his contract does the same thing 2 or 3 times a season. Absolute clown
Incompetent referee at his best
English referees are the worst in the entire football world. Even in Czech corrupted league, there are much better referees than these jokes. I even hate to watch some matches when I find out that I have to se likes Oliver, Taylor, Dean, Atkinson, Friend, Moss etc. Mostly arrogant corrupted c*nts.
I thought VAR was supposed to be for potential offsides (so did its job unfortunately) and to review potential penalty decisions (didn’t do its job as that was no way a penalty). Looks like we will have to rely on Europa!!!
This game cannot get any worse.
Leno: hold my beer
Season wholly and truly ruined
Well that just tops off a crap game, Leno off and not available for three games, and all because the ref was crap and gave a penalty that never was – total joke!!!
When it rains…it pours
But I am super excited about the prospects of this team. Luiz blunder aside, there were lots to be happy about in the way the team played.
This one of those exceptional days for history writers.
Let’s get back up again!
COYG!!!!
A few games without Luiz, (a positive) but also without Leno
If we get anything out of this game it will be a mini miracle!!!