Arsenal take on reigning Champions Man City at the Emirates this afternoon.
Here are the official line-ups.
Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Rice, Odegaard, Trossard, Jesus, Nketiah
Subs: Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, Kiwior, Partey, Smith Rowe, Havertz, Vieira, Nelson, Martinelli
Man City: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Lewis, Silva, Foden, Alvarez, Haaland
Subs: Moreno, Phillips, Stones, Grealish, Doku, Gomez, Akanji, Nunes, Bobb
Ok…..
COYG!!!!
Spurs W
United W
Chelsea W
Liverpool – winning
Newcastle – winning
I really don’t want to lose this game
Liverpool- now drawing
This comment is the exact reason I’m not a football manager.
But I must say I’ve been feeling sorry for Jorg so I’m super happy for him he gets a start In a game of this magnitude.
Just really hope Arteta knows what he’s doing.
Chelsea’s results don’t concern us
I think they’ll concern us more than United and Spurs results come May.
Nah. Can’t see us down in the relegation scrap with Chelsea come May.
Man Utds neither
Liverpool drew
Good news is Martinelli on the bench
I feel like we have not really appreciated Martinelli enough
For me he is just as important as Saka
Gooners appreciate him, but Saka is the Hale End chosen one
Let’s fucking beat these dickheads! Long overdue
There is your answer. Jubilation.
Oh dear. Was praying for a miracle and saka martinelli Jesus front three. With Jesus shunted out left to play nketia in the middle I think this team wins against city once in twenty matches. Here’s praying it’s the once.
Trossard on the left?
The only hope in the other 19 games is staying in it till 70 minutes then putting some subs on and nicking it. COYG
It happened something like that!
Fair comment Mr Hindsight
I’m afraid I agree with all of this.
It’s about time this City voodoo was put behind us, Saka or no Saka. One point is the minimum.
Good to see Martinelli on the bench. He may come in handy later in the game.
I am cautiously hopeful. Of Wolves could do it, so can we. COYG!!!
A draw would do nothing to the hoodoo, if indeed one even exists.
Gutted for Saka! This means that for all the noise, he isn’t fit! Nketiah and Jorginho starting gives me the creeps. But I guess we just have to trust Arteta.
Agreed. Jorginho can be very good so let’s pray it’s one of those days. Nketia disables any forward fluency and fluidity we have. He’s just not good enough at this Le el I’m afraid. Hopefully he scores hatrick today. Wouldn’t change my mind but would certainly make me very very happy.
I want to trust the manager but I don’t see how we are winning with line up
Me either but shit happens sometimes.
Don’t get a job as a fortuneteller.
Jorginho and Rice would give stability in the middle
Irony?
You were absolutely right, Master
I’m gutted for the team but it’s Saka’s own fault. Last season KT played for Scotland with an injury and ended up out for much longer. We all slated him for nut pulling himself out.
Likewise Saka shouldn’t have played vs Lens. He needs to learn too.
Well done, Arteta! You’ve wrecked Saka and taken him out of the biggest game of the season.
And you’ve picked the wrong forward line. Average Eddie won’t win you the title.
3-1 to City is my prediction
That’s the spirit
To be fair Eddie has been average. We need an upgrade come January. That doesn’t mean we don’t want him to do well.
Eddie has 2 goals and a penalty win in 6-7 games, that is a stat of roughly 0.5 goal involvement per game. Numbers some expensive Brazilian up the road can’t boast of in 3-4 times as many games. Or the expensively assembled blues. Yet we continue berating our very own.
You are seriously using richarlison as a comparison to say nketia is good enough. We want to win the league. Lord help us.
Not really but appealing for Eddie’s support and perspective. The man is not as awful as you all want us to believe.
You also need to consider the all round game. Eddie doesn’t dive anywhere near as well or as often as Richarlison. He also doesn’t kick people off the ball like Richarlison does.
So, apart from the headline stats, very different players. One’s a nasty, weasel-faced bastard and the other’s Eddie Nketiah.
His nickname is little Eddie, fats.
Pretty negative comment fats, unfortunately, you’re probably right though.
Nope, he was wrong.
He’s always wrong. Just wants the attention.
Here is a random thought, you can just not watch Arsenal.
Saka is an employee of Arsenal, him getting injured is not news but part and parcel of being a footballer, he may have played today and got hurt what would your excuse have been then? Eddie won us games before, he just might do it today. COYG!!!!
I predict 3-2 Gunners and that no matter what happens you will explain what is wrong about it.
He usually shuts up pretty quickly when we win
It’s Saka fault too. Last season KT played for Scotland with an injury and ended up out for much longer. We all slated him for nut pulling himself out.
Likewise Saka shouldn’t have played vs Lens. He needs to learn too.
Saka may have had a foot injury going into the Bournemouth game and also into the Lens game. But both cases he played on and helped the team and only had to sit out because of a hamstring injury. This is a new injury completely unrelated to his alleged foot injury. This coulda shoulda woulda and assigning blame stuff is not helpful for anyone. Injuries are part of the game, gutted he’s out but here we are, let’s appreciate the team we have today and back them to do us proud. We could have breakout performers today. Let’s back the… Read more »
You don’t know much about injuries hey.
I know a foot injury is not related to a hamstring injury as much as a back injury is not related to a toe injury. If he was fit and the team needed to win and the doctors approved it then he had to play. Would you rather sit him out when you want to win when its clear he’s our most trusted with delivering danger to the opposition?
Eddie goal today confirmed!
You have always be negative fat but wishing your team to lose but the game is the height of it.
Just zip it next time maybe, hey Fatgooner? The relentless negativity is just ridiculous.
Wrong as feckin usual.
Ugh. Jorginho against a hard running side never a great thought.
He did well vs Newcastle. Has Odegaard and Rice in front of him.
He also made some mistakes that costs us goals this season in exactly the same circumstances. I’m not worried about the other players, just jorginho’s physical presence and pace (or lack thereof).
He has but he tends to be good in the big games
Nld is a big game and yet…
that game was lost/drawn in the first half when we didnt take our chances….should’ve been out of sight by the end of the first half
ten mins in and jorginho is on a yellow because of lack of pace… against a hard running city midfield. big games indeed!
Care to revisit that comment now?
I would have gone with Partey but here we are, here is to hoping we get the best version of Jorginho today. COYG!!
This is the first time in two or so years where I’m absolutely livid with Arteta. ARGH. I hope it’s not a long time for our starboy, perhaps a blessing in disguise if he misses international duty.
Arsenal need to buy a proper right winger in January. COYG
Could cost us the title not doing that in the summer tbh
And another midfielder.
We have enough central midfielders, I would get rid of Elneny and bring back Patino.
We have 3 midfielders over 30. Partey is injuJanuary. And will be going to afcon, jorginho isn’t a long term solution, and elneny is entering the final year of his contract. We need, at minimum, one central midfielder in january.
Partey and Jorginho are 30+ but who cares? They’ve got plenty of life left in them yet. For those three midfield slots, we’ve got Rice, Partey, Havertz, Odegaard, Jorginho, Elneny and also potentially Vieira and ESR if they are deployed there. Asking for more than that is not realistic.
Not elated with the line up, but the crowd will be loud as long as we get to the 2nd half on level terms we can make some subs and push for the win
Wow…….I nailed it
Yes. Yes, you did!
really hope Raya and Jorginho are up for this. mistakes in the last games must be playing in the back of their minds and might affect confidence. would have preferred Ramsdale in goal…
let’s see how this goes ..
Thats us fucked then, isn’t it?
What is the betting he will turn up for England?
And Nketiah up front…
Let’s hope Arteta has a plan and team can execute it. Looking at starting line up I’m honestly not sure where goals are going to come from. Trossard maybe? Ødegaard? Solid defence and play counter attack? Nketiah and Jesus have been way too inconsistent for me for both to start. Let’s hope team is motivated and gets it done today.
I’m not in love with this line up. And I’m not happy with a substandard player (Nketiah) pushing one of our best players out of position. I think it’s stupid.
Could not agree more.
Eddie is the best to play today he can make runs in behind and that will be useful with City’s high press. Good GJ moves wide which means he creates mayhem and affords Eddie more space to exploit with his runs which have yielded 2 goals and a penalty so far this season.
Yeah right. He’s run about and put in a tackle that got the crowd up. Any top player leaves that ball for odegarrd to run on too. Really poor and as for that shot he had 😂😂
Why not Havertz up front? We won the community shield with him there and it would surely be helpful having a tall target man up front.
even havertz in the 10 and jesus in the 9 would give us more fluidity, but we insist on playing jorginho to mark alvarez, city’s form player
Havertz lacks confidence and goals, and lumping it up towards him hoping he can hold it and bring others to play is nothing but hope. Eddie despite the obvious hate by some fans, has 2 goals and a penalty win. Far more goal threat than he’s being given by some fans. Aside from the front three there’s nothing better considering the injuries we have. Viera is no winger and his defensive work is lacking same with ESR’s defensive work. City keeps the ball well some defensive stability is needed. Im not sure of Jorginho ahead of Partey but Arteta knows… Read more »
Agreed Kai > Little Edie vs City.
Why not Nelson?
This is a game begging for Partey. I presume he is not fit. Rice, Partey, Odegar midfield would be more assuring and mobile. Not fully confident in the Jorg inclusion. The lineup does not fill me with much confidence. I wish the boys all the best out there today. COYG!!!
For my heart’s sake, I’ll sit this one out😬😬😬
Im sitting this one out too. Would rather enjoy the sun then 90 minutes of the inevitable. If we pull off a miracle I’ll enjoy it just as much…but afterwards. Win win.
Oh ye of little faith …
Bottlers!
Sad for Saka, proper game changer in the team. Hope it’s not serious.
On the other hand, happy he didn’t hand Havertz a start.
Ps.: I’m eager to see the said ‘rotation’ and Rams starting a game again.
Hmmmm ? Not sure ???? Jorg in there to stop Alvarez & Haaland supply lines fine but up front hmmmm ?
There’s nothing else to offer, personally the front three are the best we have considering the injuries we have. Can’t throw in Martnelli right away, maybe 30mins towards the end. There’s noise of Havertz up top which is laughable considering his no goals and lack of impact in a much deeper role.
What is his strategy? It seems Arteta may be skewing a bit towards a slightly more controlled counter attacking strategy? Jorginho tends to provide a bit more control, more possession against a team that thrives on ball control. Nketia possibly using his quickness to get behind or at least be more of that kind of threat. With Trossard a bit more playmaking and offensive nous at the expense of some height and muscle from Havertz, this may be the choice due to MC suspension? Is this also done with the idea of compensating for our injuries and fitness by bringing… Read more »
Also, is this intended to shift our most expensive & versatile? player into a more controlling and offensive role like Xhaka provided? I do wonder if there was or is a primary objective associated with this lineup? Is there some weakness in the MC lineup Arteta is after?
Very happy Havertz is rested but would like Arteta to be man enough to say that Raya is his No1 and the rotating thing was bollox.
COYG!
I’m not happy at all. I reckon Havertz is the best alternative to Saka that we have.
Almost like Arteta has some sort of personal geas against playing Havertz on the right..
Guess it wasn’t worth playing him midweek after all.
But fuck it, we’re not a one man team, let’s smash these bastards!
Noooo!!!! NOt Jorginho. Hes gonna cost us the game. 🙁
He was one of our best players today.
saka being out feels surreal, he was practically a fixture. not really expecting much from todays game. maybe for the best. the question is will city’s defence be in trouble because nketiahs in the room?
Not even 5 minutes in and Raya already has made 2 mistakes.
Make that 3.
FFS bring Ramsdale on!!!!
Pathetic blind faith by Arteta in Raya. What one things have justified this faith?
Raya is scaring the hell out of me.
I miss Ramsdale everydale
Hey Mikel?
You know that thing of yours about subbing goalkeepers?
Now’s a good time, before Mr Walkabout succeeds in giving one away.
Just going to say this if Xaka makes that tackle Kovacic just did that’s a straight red.
Kovacic is going to be sucking Michael Oliver’s dick for months to pay this off.
I have a feeling MC owners are buying a nice gift basket for Michael Oliver just about now.
Yeah. The first one being yellow, rather than red, you can sort of argue the toss about.
The second one? Never mind Granit Xhaka, Mother Theresa of Calcutta gets a fucking yellow for that.
Any other player not wearing a City jersey, that’s a red. The Arabs have been moving like mad to placate PGMOL.
Raya does not look comfortable. Have a bad feeling he will cost us this game
Eddie really is almost no threat to man city. Oh how we with the money on Havertz was spent on a striker.
Raya has been pants first half so why ain’t he been subbed?
Boring boring boring arteta
Except the scares of raya
Pep’s made 3 changes including kovacic to avoid a 2nd yellow. What does arteta need to see to sub Nketiah and Jorginho? Nketiah is sleep walking as usual. Jorginho is slow and on a yellow.
Cogy love my team
Havertz earnt that 65 million
Fuck yes