Arsenal take on Fulham at the Emirates this afternoon, looking for three Premier League points.
Here are the official line-ups.
Arsenal: Ryan, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Xhaka, Elneny, Ceballos, Saka, Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Lacazette
Subs: Leno, Cedric, Chambers, Mari, Partey, Willian, Pepe, Nelson, Nketiah
Fulham: Areola, Anderson, De Cordova-Reid, Adarabioyo, Cavaleiro, Lemina, Lookman, Maja, Anguissa, Robinson, Aina
Subs: Fabri, Hector, Ream, Odoi, Bryan, Reed, Onomah, Loftus-Cheek, Mitrovic
right after arteta comment on pepe – i knew he would bench him. I dont get why teta hates pepe so much.
There’s only three positions up top. We all want Martinelli to start and the inform Laca is the only CF. And of course Saka has to play too. Sometimes there’s just not room.
Laca isn’t the long term future, the 72-million signing is.
Play Martinelli up top.
Does Saka HAVE to play though?
I suspected he would REST him like most players if we are to have a good ebening on Thursday
Europa isn’t for a fortnight.
“Europa isn’t for a fortnight.”
No reason Thursday can’t be a good evening though.
Lmao why do you think he hates him? That’s a bit hysterical!
He wants to give more minutes to youngsters, Saka, Emile, Gabi, like so many are clamouring for, and using Laca to link them together.
This doesn’t mean he hates everyone he doesn’t pick each match! 😂
No need to play every player twice in 4 days. Martinelli for Pepe is a sensible move.
I agree but saka needs more rest surely then pepe ?
I’d have liked to see them both rested.
Saka missed some games recently. They qualify as rest.
maybe they will switch at some point. Also maybe its recognising that Saka recently had a wobble in form after a break. Maybe he’s gonna be a Alexis type who wants to play all the time. To be fair you could make the argument that Pepe also needs the run of games. I don’t know where im going with this… maybe just to say that there are pros and cons for any selection in that area.
So why does 29-year-old Lacazette play every game?
In Ødegaard, Smith Rowe, Saka, Pepe, Martinelli, Laca and Auba we basically have 7 players for 4 positions. Auba and Ødegaard are missing so it‘s 5 for 4 positions. Pepe is the one to sit out this time. Often enough it was Martinelli. Don’t get what the problem is here. If Pepe would have started instead of Martinelli you’d complain why he hates Martinelli.
Benched him because he values him so much. Needs him fresh!!!
Pepe is sht that’s why. He came on and did nothing
Come on you reds! Solid side, hope we can get closer to St Totteringhams Day.
Interesting lineup. I hope to see Nelson or Pepe, not Willian at maybe 60th minute. Good to see Ryan have a start as well. Let’s have another clean sheet and a convincing win
Yeah if we see Willian come on instead of Pepe then it’s gonna be obvious Arteta can’t get out of his own way. His poor team selections and in-game management is why we languish 9th in the league with no hope of qualification outside winning Europa. Let’s hope he has finally learnt despite being so slow.
Yeah a pretty strong line up and a another test for Xhaka at left back. Don’t know if Pepe is dropped or rested, so can’t comment on that. Only change I would have liked is Cedric for Bellerin.
This should be good enough.
Was hoping to see Pepe start again, but at the same time I want Martinelli to get as much playing time as possible. I’m okay with this selection, if Pepe then starts on Friday.
Yes, I think you’re right. Let’s hope that it’s the “Jekyll” Arsenal that turns up this afternoon and not the “Hyde” version. The latter is hairier.
why not start Pepe to build some form?
‘Leno savagely dropped for insubordinate interview about his future’.
This headline was brought to you by goal.com. And yes, before you ask, we have sources close to the club.
Not just dropped but savagely dropped.
Martinelli in is good, shame Pepe had to make way!!! Would have thought Saka could do with a rest?
Real shame not to see Pepe start, but great to see Martinelli get another starting place. I would have been tempted to rest Laca, and bring in Pepe on the left and Martinelli down the middle. Alternatively, rested Saka and played Pepe on the right.
Hopefully a positive result today though.
We’ve got Gabi, do do do do do do, oh Martinelli 💥😀
Need to see a good performance from ceballos and elneny.
That’s the one I’m worried about. Hasn’t worked in the past. Let’s hope that it works better with the recent tweaks in place.
I don’t understand why Mari is not in the line up,its clear that Mari+ Holding plays well together compared to Holding +Gabriel
Agreed, especially considering we’re also changing right back and GK! A bit too many changes back there for my liking…
Ryan starting – a good opportunity for him. The team selection looks good enough so let’s hope we can make it three straight wins and no goals conceded if possible (that would do Ryan’s confidence a power of good too).
Yeah, no excuses for Pepe – how dare he not start the game, the lazy bastard.
If only he’d played well against Slavia, and, I don’t know, scored a goal or something.
Arteta’s statements are becoming self-parody.
We’ll see the Xhaka at LB experiment tested today, Cavaleiro and Lookman are quite decent. I’m worried we might struggle today, Europa League adrenaline come down, Elneny/Ceballos etc
I hope the midfield and full-backs can cope with Fulham’s speedy players.
I’d go with Balogun up top, gabi on the left, pepe on the right. Middle I’d put ESR or even willian or ceballos, though willian is useless and I can’t stand the sight of him he needs to earn his money and that way we could rest ESR, also saka who will be run into the ground this way. It will not matter if we finish 8th or 10th but we need esr and saka for the EL.
This game has all the ingredients for an Elneny hattrick, and I don’t mean defensive errors.
Don’t mind the line up. But after what he said about pepe, another contradiction he makes here. It’s like you said you want him to success but you don’t even want to give him proper chance
Also, still don’t understand nelson being frozen out. You have a young potential there that needs to develop. Wtf…..
COYG!
What happened to Leno
Relegation threatened team, we are helping them to gain confidence, playing really lethargic, with 30 mins gone.
Fk Var, FkING joke. Every fking game var fks us over. This is getting annoying. Every fking game we a disallow var goal. Always against us. Fk you var and the person who created you.
Offside is offside mate. It’s the other chances or lack off that’s the problem.
The most frustrating part is, there’s a built-in solution already in place, except it specifically isn’t used for offsides – the “clear and obvious error rule”. Here’s my proposed rule: If it’s a toe or part of shoulder and the linesman didn’t catch it, it’s not clear and obvious and you don’t need to draw stupid lines. If it’s the entire foot or ESR is two meters behind the last man, it is – but you don’t need to draw stupid lines either. Now if the referee blows the whistle and it’s close they should check and draw the lines,… Read more »
Or just go back to the daylight rule, if there is a gap from the last defender to the attacker then it’s offside, if not, allow the goal. Goals ruled out for inconsequential millimeters is just ruining the game
Hungover performance. I’d be tempted to bring on Partey for Elneny at half-time.
Bring on Partey & Pepe around the 60 min mark 👍
Fk u fk u fk u fk u fk u fk fk u fk u Var!!!!
Annoying that we are playing expecting to win without breaking a sweat!
This ref has messed this game up! His decisions have been pretty dodgy.
Well, Not like we covered ourselves in glory either 🙄
Arteta messed up. Simple. Bellerin is clearly not good enough. Holding and Gabriel has never worked and he stilldoesnt get it. Benching our second most in form player? Terrible decision.
Great tactics terrible management
Take Martinelli off… pepe on right. Saka back to the left please.
Martinelli been the best player today, what is wrong with you?
Absolutely sick of this team and how they pick and choose what games they want to perform in.blame the ref blame var if it makes you feel better but ultimately these players only perform on their own terms
Arteta must go.
I agree. Think we need someone who will just develop our young players, not overlook them (saliba and nelson come to mind, even esr who should’ve been in the team much before than now, mikel just stumbled on him and he was a talent just waiting to flourish). No need for expensive/fancy signings or has-beens. If we have pepe and have paid so much, give him a run of ten games and complete confidence and support so he knows this is his place and team and no mind games. No xhaka at lb etc. Find a backup when possible and… Read more »
If he doesn’t put on Balogun and puts on willian instead, I’m done.
No, he put on Eddie, who scored the equaliser…
ESR Anonymous today.
Just blow the whistle!.
Speaks volume of our depth when the best we can throw on is Nketiah
Mother fkers var trying to take everything from us. They try to find every fking excuse to try aND disallow our goals. Fk u var fk you FA.
Cool it.
We had one goal disallowed for the same kind of bullshit other teams have had their goals disallowed for the whole season.
Don’t ascribe to malice what can be ascribed to stupidity.
Whilst I typically strongly agree with Hanlon’s razor, when you consistently see a statistically significant bias against one team (Arsenal, and this is present in a number of metrics, but I like this discussion alot https://positivelyarsenal.com/2018/01/05/the-pgmol-vs-arsenal-data-shows-a-clear-pattern-of-bias/comment-page-1/), then it can certainly be both stupidity AND malice.
Mikel Arteta does not deserve to be Arsenal manager next year based on PL displays. and PL, to me, is what matters.
Arteta mistakes with team selection continue especially Bellerin. He offered nothing. Got in the way too many times and turned attacking plays backwards to stop momentum. Cedric over Bellerin. Craig Pawson is the man of the match again. Arsenal were just not good enough to win today playing like that but at what point does FA start looking into referee’s ability to handle games. Craig Pawson is beyond incompetent.
To be fair, he would have gotten a goal assist if VAR hadn’t been designed by muppets.
The usual tepid, dull, boring and toothless – just about scraping a draw against relegation threatened Fulham AT HOME.
For those short-sighted ones blaming VAR, it was unfortunately an off-side and the problem with Arsenal is far bigger and deeper than a VAR decision.
As per ever, Arsenal continue the ‘one step forward, one/two steps back’.
This is no way to run a Premier League football club, let alone our beloved Arsenal. People may like Arteta and he may be a ‘nice guy’ but at the end of the day, it’s the results that count, not personalities.