Arsenal are back in action after the Interlull, taking on Nottingham Forest at home this afternoon.
Here are the official line-ups.
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Jorginho, Merino, Odegaard, Trossard, Saka, Jesus
Subs: Neto, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Partey, Nwaneri, Rice, Martinelli, Havertz, Sterling
Nottingham Forest: Sels, Murillo, Awoniyi, Hudson-Odoi, Dominguez, Ward-Prowse, Moreno, Elanga, Yates, Milenkovic, Aina
Subs: Miguel, Morata, Williams, Wood, Toffolo, Da Silva, Jota, Sosa, Boly
Trossard the King. Starting 11 and bench.
Yeah suddenly we’re stacked again. Mad stuff.
Come on lads let’s get our season up and running!
Why the down vote? 😂
Feel like the headline should be “rice and Partey start on the bench”
Yeah. I don’t understand this line up.
save them for the CL mid week
Rice has a broken toe and with the expected amount of possession we’ll have, Jorghino with his qualities on the ball makes sense too.
Yep. Forest are the low block kings so you need your small space players.
it doesn’t work unless you write it in the social media/tabloid kind of way with the sensasionalist capitalisation: “Rice and Partey start on the BENCH!”
There, now I’m riled up. How DARE that Mikel Arteta.
Why are suddenly all my comments getting blocked/waiting for approval? There was a good while where it barely happened at all.
hmm and of course this one wasn’t, guess it’s just a coincidence or random keywords triggering the algorithm.
It really hurts to say this, but I think it was about time Martinelli was benched.
No.
as if Trossard or Sterling were better. remenber Inter for example?
Trossard offer nothing other than sharp shooting around box. Can e effective against low blocks, not so much against mid-blocks and high pressing teams.
This is tactical.
Had to wipe my eyes twice to be sure I saw the line up correctly! Is the wholesale changes necessary? Having Jorginho in midfield when Forest are devastating in transition and will look to solely use the route has my bum twitching already! Still, hoping for the best.
I disagree. Jorginho is much more secure in possession than Rice/Partey so less chance of him getting caught on the ball by their transition demons. Remember Newcastle away last year!
The rest defense of Saliba, Gabriel and one of Timber/Calafiori will be the guys tasked with winning those duels. JOrginho is actually a really smart operator in the press and with his positioning, but yeah lets hope MGW doesn’t get him on his hip very often.
I get nervous whenever I see Zinch anywhere near a starting team… why both Kiwior and him? With the hard-running attackers that Forest have , he’ll be a sitting duck out on our left.
Though not sure Kiwior and Zinny can win a foot race with Elanga on the counter from our bench, but I’m pretty sure there rules against that kind of thing.
Wow didn’t see that line up coming. Serious bench though
Has Jesus earned his chance?
Wow. Can anybody remember another time Arteta has changed this many players for a non-cup game? Looking forward to it
Strange starting 11, I must say. Forest are quite dangerous. I hope we get an early goal to settle the nerves.
Crazy selection!!
Partay, Rice and Havertz all on the bench?
And what has Jesus done to deserve a start? Madness!
At least Forest have dropped Chris Wood. I wonder why?
Flying from New Zealand?
and Morgan Gibbs-White absent
Because they know they need to win duels against our rest defense or else be doomed to play in their half all game. Awoniyi is much more of a handful in those moments because he’s a speed/power guy. Wood is power only. Much easier to contain in transitions.
Rice,Partey, Martinelli on the bench means Tuesdays game is considered already
Anything less than 3 points is a failure here. I’m ok with the line up considering Forest are stingy in defense this season. I’m assuming it’ll end up being a box midfield in defence for Arsenal to deal with Forest transition game with fast passes up top in attack to tire them out then change to Party, Martinelli and Havertz to amp up pressure in 2nd half.
Arsenal B start Leno, Smith Rowe, Nelson, and Iwobi. COYGB!
Somehow the lineup makes sense , since most of the starters had rest and the ones on bench were pretty much active in the interlull except partey. Arteta avoiding burnout and trying to maintain the best possible lineup considering the amount of back to back games we have. COYG . A die hard fan from India
Really powerful bench.
Seems like the intention is to contain them in the 1st and unleash the beast in the 2nd
Please please let me get what I want this time! 😭
Jesus.
Havertz must not be okay because this is the type of line up that may have detractors screaming Arteta out. Trossard, wow!
he’s okay, he’s played even during the interlull, needs to be fresh for tuesday !
strange selection, mood is CL mid week more important than EPL, and better save them four regulars
This is actually going to be a really tough game. Nobody in world football right now defends better in a low block than Nottingham Forest. They also have some really good outlets on the wings and Chris Wood is in the best form of his life (low bar, but still): they are collectively in a really strong moment. For me the game comes down to our rest defense, meaning, can we erase their outlets when our play in their half breaks down? Can we keep them completely pinned in their half? The Achilles heel of a low block is variance:… Read more »
I really like what Arteta did here. I’ve been asking for more Jorginho for a while now because I love how he greases the buildup and offers some deeper playmaking as well as leadership and a second “coach on the field.” We will need all of our playmakers out there to break this stubborn block, hence Odegaard, Trossard, Saka, Jorginho… we’r throwing the sink at their block. The guys on the bench today have played a LOT of minutes, so I’m glad they get a little break. I also love that they’re available to change the game if needed.
good call. We should be 3 or 4-0 up if not for fairly poor efficiency in front of goal, Ode still looks far from his best (which is still much above most player’s best).
That yellow for Saka is an absolute disgrace, whoever it was storming into Saka’s foot and then holding his head when Saka’s foot wasn’t anywhere near it.
fcks we’ve picked upp three yellows for no reasons
why do you say that, there were many reasons, a PGMOLlion of them in fact
Slightly worried we haven’t put this to bed, I can see that twinkle in the refs eye, he’s got a hard on to send one of us off
Welcome back captain, we’ve missed you! What a difference odergaard makes.