Arsenal take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this evening.
Here are the official line-ups.
Chelsea: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Silva, Zouma, James, Gilmour, Jorginho, Chilwell, Mount, Havertz, Pulisic
Subs: Mendy, Alonso, Emerson, Hudson-Odoi, Livramento, Anjorin, Ziyech, Werner, Giroud
Arsenal: Leno, Holding, Gabriel, Mari, Tierney, Saka, Elneny, Partey, Smith Rowe, Odegaard, Aubameyang
Subs: Ryan, Bellerin, Chambers, Cedric, Ceballos, Willian, Pepe, Martinelli, Lacazette
Come on you reds!
WTF?
Is that 451 or 343
If it’s four at the back, who is at RB? The only with the pace to match Chelsea might be Gabriel
At least there are three on the bench
I think it’s 3-4-3 with Saka and Tierney at RWB and LWB respectively
4-2-3-1
My first thought – WTF is this line up. Who is the RB? Cant Cedric play or is he going to be sold? Its like he is just throwing darts and deciding the line up. Whether it works or not, I dont know how players adjust to all these changes.
Not sure if Arteta knows.
More proof that Arteta’s personnel policy is – Play player. Player does ok. Then player pisses you off. Drop player. Replace with player that previously pissed you off.
I mean, did Cedric do so much wrong?
Obviously something wrong there. Is he on the not giving his all list?
Most managers rotate. Arteta ro-hates.
Didn’t MA mention he was in the hospital recently?
Perhaps just a splinter from the bench.
Pepe gets dropped almost routinely whenever he hits form, it’s bonkers!
3-5-2
That’s what I see. Tierney and Saka as wing backs. For a moment I thought Holding was our right back… and he left the other potential RBs (Bellerin, Cedric and Chambo) on the bench. Muy intersante Mikel.
Oh. Yeah. That makes more sense. Although I was very much looking forward to Holding overlapping Saka like a Shetland pony on ketamine.
You’re currently riding a Shetland pony on ketamine arent you Johnny? Got a spare?
I can do you an eagle on methadone.
Sorry not a fan of methadone, although I do love eagles on peyote, we should be able to get some, it’s got a desert vibe this scene.
But who is at right wing back then ? Saka ?
yup.
Or more a 3-4-3, with ESR and Odegaard in the half spaces? Who do you see as part of the front two other than Auba?
Arteta appears to be overthinking things again
Back three to match their back three?
Didn’t we used to beg for a coach who set up with the opposition in mind?
Unai Emery did that all the time and was hounded out of the club.
The difference between, I think, is setting up to neutralize a high-flying Chelsea as opposed to setting up to neutralize a low-lying Watford.
The Futsboller who cried wolf😂
😉
Over-thinking yes but not again, always
Arteta hasnt got the experience and knowledge of EPL, period. Unfortunately the owner hssnt got interest in Soccer or results but his money.
Wtf ??? Does Arteta just draw names out of a hat to play ?
Very similar personnel to the home game which seemed to turn our season (and Lampard’s)
We played with 3 man defence in first half of the season as well. One man short in midfield. No link between attack and midfield. No threat going forward. Loosen your seat belts for yet another 90 mins of NO coherence from Arsenal. It’s going to be frustrating tonight, again.
Bellerin is well and truly done. Cedric gotta be a bad buy if he can’t get in their either.
Apart from a natural right back, that’s a decent side he put out.
I comment my reserve till after the match
Too me
I porn my watch as soon as it seems hopeless. Usually after the first twenty minutes or so.
Porn after 20 minutes? What do you do for next 69 minutes?
Lol
Three RB on the bench. Lol
3 RBs on the bench, none on the pitch?
Bizarre, and makes me worry that we may see more overly complicated ‘Xhaka at left back’ style solutions next season. Instead of putting players in natural positions.
Well this comment aged like milk!
3 RBs on the bench
0 RBs in the starting XI
WTF
It’s brilliant! They’ll never understand!
Is it Holding at RB? Or Saka at RWB? Or maybe even Tierney at RWB? Stay tuned to find out in the next episode of Artetactics!
Lol. Why did I read this in the voice of Steven Schapiro?
I’m not convinced Odegard and ESR can both be on the pitch together, they seem to make the same runs and get in each others way too much.
Reminds me of the England sides trying to play Gerrard and Lampard together
Not if they’re both trying to play 10. But with clear roles, they can play nicely. Just like lampard, gerrard and scholes could all have. Biggest travesty is those 3 never played together for England (imagine!)
ESR had a good match on the left a couple matches back. I think they’re inverted wingers tucking in, with Tierney and Saka overlapping.
So… Elneny at RWB? With a back three of Holding-Gabriel-Mari?
If we are playing Elneny at Right back then I want to see Saka in goal. Its unfair that short people cannot become goal keepers at top level.
Im betting on a 3-4-3
Holding – Mari – Gabriel
Saka – elneny – partey – tierney
Odegaard – auba – esr
Don’t know why you were downvoted, you were absolutely spot on.
Ah, Saka at RWB!
Google says holding at RB. That’s exciting.
Did Partey play RB for Atletico against us in the semi a few years back after there’s got sent off?
We definitely need an experienced manager not an apprentice. Chelse is a good lesson to learn how the Club is run
Arteta the man can’t seem to separate himself from Arteta the manager. There is an odd immutability to everything he does. Unwillingness to change in the face of obvious proof of mistakes. And now he also speaks like Mourinho.
Interesting. We got 3 RBs and he plays a CB there. Just so we are more defensive than we already are
Exactly! And some of us expect that Arteta is still a solution for AFC as a coach? That is pure basics and if you fail there where can you go? How do you expect to be able to read if you dont learn the alphabet?
Maybe we’re gonna bring our army of RBs off the bench in the 70th minute to really fuck with their heads
That’d be a twist – they won’t be expecting them until the 80th.
Shit.
Wow, Kepa on that goal was like when you take control of a goalkeeper on FIFA and forget to switch back.
Jorginho should have looked (obviously), but why the fuck was their goalkeeper so far away from the goal when we didn’t have the ball?
Wow. I feel like Kepa is destined for the MLS.
I think he was right where a keeper should be. Every keeper moves away from his goal in that situation. The irony is that the reason for that is to make sure a miscontrolled back pass doesn’t go into the goal.
After 30 mins, against a 2nd string Chelsea team, we are a goal up but haven’t really threatened.
Hope we play better and get the 3 points, I’m not confident about a clean sheet though.
What are we doing?!
Are we Sheffield??!!! Is Chelsea Man City??!!
This is ridiculous!!😡😡
Martinelli for Auba. This game scream for a high energy press player on top