Arsene Wenger has cast doubt on the involvement of a host of first team players ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final showdown with Wigan Athletic.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs, Tomas Rosicky are all nursing problems which could see them sit out the visit to Wembley (they face late tests) while Mathieu Flamini is suspended. In better news Aaron Ramsey has been declared fit enough to start.
The boss also confirmed that Lukasz Fabianski, who has kept goal throughout the FA Cup run, will start.
Casting his eye over players currently sidelined, Wenger confirmed that Laurent Koscielny could be involved against West Ham on Tuesday with Mesut Ozil aiming to be fit for Hull on the 19th April.
Asserting his determination to secure a first FA Cup final since 2005, the boss remarked of the tie against the reigning holders: “We want to win the semi-final and it’s important to focus on that. We respect Wigan highly.”
Ox, Rosicky, and Gibbs doubtful.
As always, we have the best injury luck. Maybe we’ll have a Park sighting.
This is not luck. Year after year of this injury nonsense means something’s dreadfully wrong. And nothing — not transfers, not “winning mentality,” not a trophy — will change that. Only the staff can. Will they? Probably not this week; Ramsey will likely go 90 minutes Saturday despite returning from injury just six days earlier. Yeah, that’s a great idea. Overplaying Walcott worked out great for him this year.
Have healthy players and you’ll win multiple trophies instead of being desperate for one like this.
Are you voting down the post, or the fact that Özil, Walcott, Koscielny and Wilshere are out while Ox, Rosicky and Gibbs might not play?
I love the club. I want Arsenal to win the Cup and finish fourth. But most of all I’d love to not dread injury news week after week. If that happens, we’ll be a soaring club again. Imagine all those aforementioned lads fit and rotated well. Wouldn’t that be brilliant?
Have we got any 1st team players left actually for this game?
Only at Arsenal could a player debut in a semi-final 🙂
Thank fuck Schez is not playing,if Almunia had let all those goals he let in against Mcity,chelski,Everton and LFC he would have been shot with a ball of his own shite!
Yeah, and let’s completely ignore the fact that defence and holding midfield was more of spectators than participants in all those games.
Can’t say he was blameless but it seems like all our players were thoroughly dejected and it took its toll on SzCz too.
When Wenger leaves the first thing the new manager will do is get rid of Schez.Has any other top goal keeper ever conceded that amount of goals so often, Seaman Schmicheal Cech Casillas Kahn I bet fucking never.
I know this is going to be unpopular but I couldn’t care less about the injury situation right now. The Eleven we put out is going to head and shoulders above the eleven Wigan puts out and we should beat them.
Having said that Wigan’s team could be more up for it than our team so it wouldn’t be surprising to see us struggle again. The recent performances fill me with trepidation.
Why is it that whenever someone starts off with “I know this is going to be unpopular”, it always receives massive thumbs up?
No Rosicky? Damn. Wanted him to lead the way. Hope he makes it.
Also want Kallstrom to play alongside Ramsey, unlikely and Wenger will still go for Arteta. But I think they’ll complement each other wonderfully, mayble for the West Ham game.
Rosicky out?
Oh boy!
“regard Wigan highly” are you High Sir?
Destroy the cunts!
COYG
What do you want him to say?
“It will be a walk in the park for us.”
“We’ll Give Ramsey some well deserved time to rest.”
“We might try out a couple of U18s for this one.”
“They play in the Championship, HA!”
Fabianski- Sagna-Mertesacker-Vermaelen-Monreal Ramsey-Kallstrom-Arteta-Cazorla Giroud-Sanogo
I would very much love a 4-4-2 and some proper decent Football. 4-2-3-1 is dead with the current fit players.
yeah lets experiment with the formation 80% way through the season and in a semi-final.
#yolo
442?
In a semi final… when we haven’t done it all season., and with one shite striker, and another one who is still to young he hasn’t scored for Arsenal yet.
Makes total sense to me.
while i agree with you 100%, the reality is chelsea and liverpool have changed there formation to suit the tactical needs of the next game all season. why are we in a position where a tweak to our formation to solve a lack of goals – playing two strikers – would probably end up in an everton style clueless performance? why couldn;t these seasoned internationals, who all play in very different systems for their countries and do well, mix things up for their club, given the fact they know each other inside out, and have a week, as professionals, to… Read more »
strategy always comes with a risk. Doesn’t matter how big a cunt Mourinho is, he takes risks like that even in finals. On one hand we talk about wenger not having a b-plan and on other we act so scared in taking some risk. Team should play to their strength, no matter if the match is semi-final or final or a regular league match. For all i know, the winners treat all alike – each match a step towards a trophy.
The key is Chelsea and Liverpool have been doing it *all season*. A one-off change of strategy without proper training time with it is suicide.
I agree with Serge. Stick with it for now. 4-2-3-1:
Fabianski
Sagna – Mertesacker – Vermaelen – Monreal
Kallstrom – Ramsey
Gnabry – Cazorla – Podolski
Nicky B (jokes)
Have Sanogo up front. Not having Giroud up front will force the midfield to try new thing and ideas. Clearly what they’ve been doing recently hasn’t been working, so maybe this is what they need to get out of the routine.
I’m 90% sure Gnabry is injured as well.
I like the thought of Gnabry starting. He’s probably our only player, apart from Ramsey, with a bit of confidence left in him.
I don’t know, I think paying Giroud up front for this game would be good. He could bully their defendes, who are used to Championship Football this year, and he could lay up a few for the Welsh Jesus.
Ramsey back with a bang!!! (Hopefully the ball and his “thigh strain”)
*not his thigh strain
Oh God i hope i didn’t jinx it with that…
@Moob – I believe Gnabry has been back in training since the start of the week. However, I’d rather see Oxlade-Chamberlain on the right if fit. I agree with the rest of the line-up, including putting Sanogo up front.
I’d like to see Jenkinson at right back and Sagna moved to the left, Monreal is a liability and that side will be targeted if he plays.
If we ever were to play a 4-4-2, Podolski would be the obvious second striker as that is his favored position. However, I don’t think we should do that right now
Starting to get super excited!! Any win will do.. COYG.
Except Wigan’s
start giroud plz, he always performs with smaller clubs,hopefully wigan is small enough for him,hopefully he’ll score a 1st half hatrick he did against nagasaki grampus!!!
haha with your logic:
Wigan = Nagaski Grampus
Wigan > Man City
Nagaski Grampus > Man City
love it.
Sensing Giroud will get on the scoresheet though, players tend to have different goal-forms based on the competition.
well using that logic Man City are worse than the team bottom of Conference North
Wigan > Man City
Millwall > Wigan (last game)
Southend > Millwall (FA Cup)
Scunthorpe > Southend (league game)
Grimsby > Scunthorpe (FA Cup)
Southport > Grimsby (league game)
Boston United > Southport (FA trophy)
Workington > Boston United (conference north)
I could probably go on and work out my Sunday league time are better. But I got a bit bored.
Clearly I have too much time on my hands.
Thank our lucky stars that Workington already went out of the FA Cup. We’d have been humiliated.
LOL
Haha well played sir
You have won today’s comments.
I’d like to see Sanogo start. He’s has some criticism and while his finishing clearly needs a lot of work, I think his mobility and ability to run in behind is hugely beneficial and stops teams from being able to play a high line and squeezing the game which in turn allows our midfielders more time on the ball. Giroud looks spent as well, and we have beaten Spurs, Everton and Liverpool during the cup run with him not starting so see no reason why that shouldn’t be the case on Saturday. I’d start the Ox too and perhaps even… Read more »
Chambo a doubt…
Sanogo might just surprise them (or have them guessing), and us. Other than the current known limitations of Giroud. Let’s hope.
I like the look of Sanogo, he’s still young but he works hard and looks eager to break his duck. If he can get some kind of service from the midfield, he could have a big game against Wigan.
Same old story wit our injury list.
*with
So if Ox, Rosicky and Gibbs can’t play or can’t start, we could go:
Fabianski – Sagna – Mert – Verm – Nacho – Arteta – Ramsey – Cazorla – Gnabry(right) – Podolski(left) – Giroud/Sanogo
Should still win. SHOULD (Please?)
Respect others also earn from this very last chance of making something Mr. Wenger.
Assuming all of them are out, I hope we line up
Giroud
Podolski Santi Gnabry
Ramsey Arteta
Nacho Vermaelan BFG Bac
Fab
Not great, but should be enough for Wigan.
Decent line up, but I’d go for Sanogo in place of Grioud and Kallstrom in place of Arteta.
Not because they are better, but because it’s different.
And at the moment, that’s we need.
Absolutely agreed. And if the Ox is fit, I’d start him over Gnabry.
I like it, Giroud in goal with a back 3 of Cazorla, Gnabry & Podolski.
Aaron & Arteta in their usual holding role with Bac & Nacho wing back.
Up top is where it gets interesting, you’ve gone with Fabianski instead of Damien Martinez with BFG & Vermaelen getting them all important knock downs.
should still be enough to beat Wigan.
With Poldi starting Nacho would need to stay home. They’re going to attack the left, like all of the thrashings. DM will need to watch that side.
Fabianski in goal!!! Great news. Deserves it and I have a good feeling. Monreal is maybe not the strongest player in our squad but we need to support him. And I hope Sanogo will start. Giroud is good when coming in after 50 minutes… Not sure about left and right wing but I would probably try Gnabry on the right.
Let’s hope that Rosa, Gibbs and Chambo can make it.
COYG
wtf is this rosa stuff, man. Rozza, maybe, but his name is short enough innit? And he is not your bosom buddy either.
🙂
sorry… autocorrect.
Thumb down for Rosa. We’re not ‘Pool fans ffs!
Otherwise, good post.
I go for some youthfull exuberance: Fab, Sagna, Verm, Per, Monreal, Arteta, Ramsey, Rosicky, Gnabry, Ox (Pod if not fit) n Akpom/Sanogo.
Yup. Youthful enthusiasm has done wonders for us over the past 9 years! Maybe it’s time for the experienced boys to man up and step up! Come on you Gunners!!
This game is not a game to try players, play the strongest team available. No sonogo or whatsoever. This is our only hope for a trophy in 9yrs!!!
miss Mesut. The Arsenal vs Everton 4-1 Mesut ofcourse.
Also happy for fabianski. definite no.1 elsewhere and if you look closely at home you’ll find he has a case for no.1 now to Saturday where hopefully wigan dont morph into bayern and Arsenal into well….Arsenal.
Need a trophy!
I’d take any Mesut right now
Give Kimmy K a start, otherwise WHAT was the point.
Him DM next to Rambo – Podolski, Cazorla, Gnabry – Sanogo.
Maybe Zelalem could get another run out?
A bit like Park, there was no point.
Ozil signing was a fluke, there was no thought behind it, Madrid just had too many players & luckily enough they let Ozil go.
So excited! FA Cup Semi Final and race to top 4 – It would be boring if we had already secured it 😉
I’m coming from Kuala Lumpur for the semi-final – its my first time – what time should I get to Wembley – need some practice with the chants before the game!
About 9am, that should give you plenty of time to get suitably pissed and up to scratch with a few of the songs
How much have you paid in total for everything? Always wanted to go, Australia is so far away from the UK..damn ungrateful Arsenal fans who complain, and subsist in London.
Just combine a trip to the Emirates/Wembley with a European holiday. The cost is greatly reduced if you think of it like that, plus, the missus won’t complain if you’ve got one.
Team morale is in dumps and all these injuries to go with it?
On the plus side, we will be putting out a completely new combination of players and that should make it diificult for Wigan’s tactical genius to pre plan some strategy.
That counts as silver lining, right?
Please respect but do not fear, for fuck’s sake!
For fuck sake! Why…….
To say I hope we win, against wigan hurts my pride. Were meant to be the mighty arsenal and now were all nervous wrecks! I honestly dont know how saturday will go. Wigan will sit back and counter us. We’ll pass side to side and im sorry but that shit wont work against this hard working team that will be right up for it.
I miss Gervinho 🙁
I don’t.
I watched highlights of Roma game(vs Juventus?) and was amazed to see Gervinho make a mazy run through 3-4 defenders. But once inside the box he kicked his own heel and fell down when practically no was around. I smiled and said to myself “No, nothing has changed, its all still the same”
Has 7 goals and 10 assists in Serie A playing as a winger (Higuain has 14+7). Given our paucity of wingers, Gervinho would’ve come in very handy at this time.
No. No he wouldn’t. His confidence was completely shot when he left us. And i’m not sure our eh ‘run of form’ since Christmas would have done anything to improve it.
We should kick the shite out of Wigan if we approach it properly.
4 – 0 to the Arsenal. Come on you Gunners.
Premier League > Serie A though. That needs to be taken into consideration.
Mediocre winger with a horrible end product. You only miss him because all you see in highlights is his “good moments” and never his bad moments which outweigh, and if you watched 90 minutes of him, you would want to poke your eyes out.
The presence of Ramsey makes us so much better, I believe we’re going to win, not a doubt in my mind…
What I don’t understand is why we don’t fire all yhe medical staff. This is surely no brainer.
Yeah, having no medical staff will sure help our injured players. I’m sure they’ve seen enough of the lovey new medical facilities to have worked out how all the machines work by now. Who needs doctors?
Correct. Shiny new machines, and Google, thats all they need. Whats the big deal?
I hope Fabianski and the rest of the squad claim this trophy. He really deserves it!
Whoa, Ksv710 got tickets for semi final for his 1st visit to see Arsenal, he is coming over from Kuala Lumpur!! How does that work, I’ve been an Arsenal member for donkey’s years, been to high bury hundreds of times and Emirates lots, Yet I can’t get a ticket!! Smh UTA
Probably got it through a London resident and not direct buy.
Presumably he bought them from a reseller or a personal connection who has tickets.
That’s odd – I’ve been a Red Member at the Emirates for just two years now and was offered tickets when the latest batch were released.
Or perhaps corporate tickets. I kindly was offered one through work, which is how I’m going. Unfortunately it’s a neutral section, but gonna make sure that it has some noise!
When the FA gave us more tickets earlier in the week the qualifying level for red member was 7+ matches since the start of 2011-12. Arsenal sent out emails on Tuesday to those that were eligible.
So (unless a ballot decided who got those emails), any red member that has been to 7 matches home or away in the last 3 seasons would have got an email. And if they haven’t been to 7 games over 3 seasons then I don’t think they deserve a ticket!
That’s a little unfair. Some of us red members are lucky to get to two matches a season because we live a ten-hour flight away from London. Or are you saying that because we live in, say, Canada, we shouldn’t bother being red members?
I’ve made two trips to London this season, and if I had the money for a third and could get the time off work and could avoid being shot by my family for it, I’d just LOVE to go to an Arsenal match at Wembley. But according to you I don’t deserve the ticket.
SMH, or appreciate at how ridiculous our fan base is. The guy is flying thousands of miles from Malaysia to watch a game…and some London based fans still mock the knowledge and commitment of our international fans.
They will defend high like every other team we play, our players should be experts on changing formations when they need to. We can’t just keep the same every game, other teams have sussed out our play.
Its costing me quite a bit mate, if thats any consolation…..MRN, 9 am really?? 😛
Give us a number!
You have to get there when the pubs are just opening in the morning or else you’ll never get a seat while you’re waiting (and drinking is hard work if you’re stood in a crowd). Head to the ground when the pub suddenly starts to empty of people wearing red and white scarves. Make sure you trample over any sober people who get in your way, and practice your swearing in case they complain about it. Make sure you do the exagerated “I’m definatably sober, Occifer” walk as you approach the turnstiles. You don’t want them to realise you’re as… Read more »
Maybe 8 ;), have a good one mate
What airline are you flying? If its Emirates, I’m crew with them and would love to try to get you an upgrade on board. No guarantees of course, but it works every now and then.
If so we can try to find a way to touch base via email off platform.
Either way, pleasant trip and have fun, get shattered. Wembley is an amazing venue and hopefully its a good night for all of us.
Fair play
Rambo is back and that gives me joy…..down the lactics. COYG!!
What does “smh” mean?
I’m not down with the lingo the youts are using these days.
Shaking my head
Not ‘Sick Mother Hugger’ then?
think it means “shaking my head”
Cheers guys, I can go for my afternoon nap now 😉
Oh not this again. It’s like Watford A&E at the Emirates. We’ll need the boss pulling on his kit and playing at this rate.
Assuming these doubts are definitely out, I’d go with something like:
Fabianski
Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Monreal
Arteta, Ramsey
Gnabry, Cazorla, Podolski
Giroud
wise words Dickface
Am I the only one who notices the impact Ramsey made straight away against Everton?
An attack minded midfielder who gives the ball then runs beyond the defence…we have missed this since losing players such as him and Wilshire etc are problem has been that Carzorla picks the ball up outside the box looks up and no one is making runs beyond the back four thus we have sideway passing and long shots.
We were immensely better against Everton after Ramsey and Ox came on, although it was far too late to change the outcome. I sure hope Ox is fit for this match.
Gah all these injuries. Makes you wonder ‘what if’ an awful lot. But ours is not to reason why. Or really do and die either. All we can do is get behind the lads who are fit enough to pull on the shirt and be that 12th man that drives them on to the end of the season. If I’m honest, if at the beginning of the season you’d have said we’d be fighting for 4th as usual, but with Wigan then either Hull or Sheffield waiting in the FA CUP FINAL. I’d have taken it. I long for the… Read more »
Start with Sonogo…..yes he is like Bambi but at least he chases and defences are confused by him. Giroud is too lazy and with limited supply he doesn’t have a goal in him!
tired = lazy.
but ya, giroud is getting annoying now with his dramatic performances after missing each chance. and his bs finger to the head (I don’t have pussy on my mind anymore) when he scores.
We need some positivity around the place…. Reasons to be cheerful this season: 1. Aaron Ramsey has shown that he is a top (world??) class player. 2. We had one of the best first-halves on the season in a looooong time. 3. We signed Mesut chuffing Ozil (pinch me!) 4. Mertesacker and Koscielny have proven to be one of the best central pairings in the PL. 5. The Ox has shown signs of how good he can be for us. 6. Spurs are doing nothing. 7. We have so few striking options that it surely, almost certainly, means we can… Read more »
Well said, and thank you for the perspective.
10. Man U’s plight
11. Flamini’s return
12. Emergence of 2 decent GK’s
That’s all that comes straight to mind!
Guys look at this another classic story omg i was crying
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3zHiv0W-nI
You know, I don’t even care if we play Stoke-like long ball in these final FA cup games. As long as there’s a trophy in the closet at the end of it…..
Gazidis: Arsene, I hope you’ve got priorities right for the upcoming games this week? Wenger: Yes! I’m gonna play my strongest side to be sure we get to the Cup Final! Gazidis: But you do realise that Stan wants fourth place and all that money, right? Wenger: Oh! Then I suppose the West Ham game is far more important. Gazidis: Precisely. Stan doesn’t give a fuck about the FA Cup – just get us that fourth place and a new contract is yours. Fuck the fans. Wenger: I suppose I’ll have to invent a few “injuries”. No problem: I’ve done… Read more »
How the hell has this got a like? So we really believe now that Wenger is making up inuries get a grip people…
It be interesting to see what would happen if City had thee injuries we have e.g. company, Yaya, Silver etc..
Not defending Wenger tho cause the peformances havent been good enough but we cant jst ignore the fact that we have got a LOT of injuries… full fit squad kept us top of the league for 23 games there is potential with this team with the right signings no question about that
if city had company silver etc i mean
conversation sounds about right….the fans need to turn away from the stadium….no one to sell tickets to, then the change will come…
otherwise it will be 4th place battles until Wenger leaves…
amen to that…if only you doom clowns had realised sooner that noone forced/forces you
to buy a ticket
you do it out of your own free will an dits a gesture of love and support to your team
and no…. its not a free pass to abuse our manager and players.
Well i just hope the boys turn up for this vital match lol how often have we said/hoped that… before getting tonked by liverdross, neverton, chavski and oil-slick city!!!
Even if we are left with 9 players fit all i want is a win period
Fabianski
Sagna – Mertesacker – Vermalen – Monreal
Ramsey – Arteta
Gnabry – Zelalem – Cazorla
Sanogo
Zelalem can be our next star
I wouldnt be suprised if rambo didnt start on the right side.
Kim and arteta holden
chezz on bench saying funny stuff about spurs.
giroud will be needed for his defensive set piece work.
i might be getting ahead of myself, but if fabianski plays in the semis and we win, and then he plays in the final and we win that too (big, big if…), does szcz get a winners medal? is it not a bit counter-productive for our long-term keeper to be (probably) the only one that misses out on a medal?
he can always take a selfie with one if he’s that desperate ……
As much as i love fabianski to play the final szcz has to play the final because he need the medal and the trophy like the rest of the players and to correct the mistakes he made the last final at wembley, fabianski is leaving at the end of the season szcz is our future goalie for years to come and he needs to win this trophy desperately like arsenal fc need to win the trophy, give fabianski the last game at emirates to play as farewell.
why not keep fabianski and make him first choice ? ….why let him leave? fabianski is entering his peak years as keeper … wojo is still very raw
That would be so unfair, given the fact that Fab’s GK performances through the FA Cup run would have been part of what got the team to the finals to begin with.
I say no, Fab should start – the agreement was that PL and CL was for Woj, Fab had the FA Cup. Stick to that agreement.
I might be in the minority here, but I want Jenks on the right, Bac and Per in the middle and Nacho or Tommy on the left. Tommy and Nacho haven’t played together enough this season and I think going into a crucial tie like this we can’t afford to play them together.
Thoughts?
Is Gnabry injured or not? His name is not on the injury list on arsenal.com. However, I did find a news article (over a week old) that says Gnabry has a knee injury. It doesn’t say how bad the injury is. If he’s fit, we need an injection of pace on the flanks. Ox (if fit) should also….hang on a minute. I keep having to say ‘if fit.’ Is everyone injured now then or what? I’ll play at the weekend if needs be. Imagine the pace of Giroud, the finishing of Gervinho, the defensive know how of Andre Santos and… Read more »
Are u people crazy schez in the final. Fuck him if we get there fad has earnt his spot. Schez was given the chance to win a league medal champ league one. He got him self sent off in champ league and let bags of goals in against the league rivals.
Far is far fab is cup keeper end of story.