Arsenal take on Crystal Palace tonight at the Emirates, looking for three points to kick things off again after the Interlull.
Here are the official line-ups.
Arsenal: Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Odegaard, Smith Rowe, Saka, Pepe, Aubameyang
Subs: Leno, Holding, Maitland-Niles, Cedric, Tavares, Elneny, Sambi, Martinelli, Lacazette
Crystal Palace: Guaita, Ward, Guehi, Andersen, Mitchell, Milojovevic, McArthur, Gallagher, Ayew, Benteke, Edouard
Subs: Butland, Tomkins, Kelly, Clyne, Konate, Hughes, Schlupp, Olise, Mateta
same lineup as the burnley game, let’s hope our attacking is better than it was at turf moor
here’s for 3 points COYG 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴
And our defence needs to be very sharp too. Benteke, Ayew and Edouard could all cause us problems. Why is it that I can just feel a Benteke goal?
Really interesting one this. COYG!!!
Exciting! As Blogs has said, a quick start will definitely do us some good. COYG!
Get in!
Good looking, looking good. Fingers crossed. COYG!
No Zaha happy to say.
No Zaha, no penalty for Palace!
No Xhaka, no penalty for Palace
Cough *dean* cough
No Zaha?!
I expected this line up …giving palace are with benteke ,eduardo n ayew …this is gonna be a tasty affair …over to the boys to prove themselves cuz our attack is suppose to be providing atleast 3goals tonight
Lets go boys
#COYG
Full on. Go go gunners go.
No Zaha either, that should help us.
COYG!!!
Let’s do this! COYG!
Not sure about 4 3 3…is Partey really a holding midfielder…are ESR and Odegaard really good enough off the ball to play those interior positions? Oh well..you do you Arteta…let’s strap in and see
Agree. Think we should stick to 4-2-3-1 which everyone is used to. I’d play Saka next to Partey in that formation, as he’s intelligent enough to hold his position there and is naturally left footed……he can still get forward as well from there
Umm. Surely it’s Odegaard next to Partey… Saka’s never played deep CM in his career.
If I was Arteta I’d keep Smith Rowe on the left and play Saka at CAM, with Pepe right. We really shouldn’t break up the ESR Tierney partnership. Neither Saka or Pepe works as well as him on the left.
You’d think so, but Odegaard just seemed to press forward when he played there last time and left a big gap. Saka has played left back and would understand filling in for Tierney when he bombs forward, more than Odegaard would.
So you’d move Saka from the attacking part of the pitch so he can cover for Tierney at left back? Not sure buddy!
At least if he’s at 10, him and Pepe can interchange, even going to a 442 as Tomiyasu doesn’t get forward. I seem to remember our goals against Burnley and Norwich came directly from Saka picking the ball up in the 10 spot. His quick feet and turns are deadly there.
I’d play Sambi and stick to our usual formation…..just saying how I’d play if we wanna get all of these players on the pitch. My point is I think we need to stick to 4-2-3-1 that’s all
I agree with you on that!
AUBA
ESR SAKA PEPE
ODG PARTEY
That’s the formula for me.
ODG can play deeper no problem. He’s shown it for club and country. He is left footed as well, which is far better than right footed Sambi for those passing lanes out to Tierney. He is the closest analogue to Xhaka we have. It’s a no brainer.
Yeah looks like ODG is dropping back and doing a decent job !
Don’t mean to sound combative but I think this is probably the best lineup that includes all our best players. The other option really is to drop Pepe and play Sambi in 4231. I’d prefer to squeeze Pepe into the team.
Yeah obviously, but playing 4-3-3 leaves Partey isolated….hope I’m wrong!
Isolated against who? Given the opponent I think this is a risk worth taking giving what you’re up against and what we can provide otherwise. Time will tell…
They’re still an organised Prem team….. I think whoever plays in midfield (in a 4-3-3) needs to be disciplined to stay in position and just go forward at the right time. I like getting our best players on the pitch, but changing the system is a worry.
I want Pepe to start too, no question…but if you change system only to include more players that’s dangerous, cuz it’s less about who play’s and more what works.
Couldn’t agree more. My concern with this lineup is that I’m not overly convinced by Pepe and Auba playing together. On paper they’re two of our best players, but in practice do they fit together that well? Hope they prove my concerns wrong.
Happy to have been proven wrong early 😉
I guess it could work…ESR and Odegaard are preatty pressy..definitely going to be interesting in possession, just don’t know if Partey will sit and destroy without leaving any space..that role is kinda more positional than he likes to be.
Come on Pepe, show him you should start.
I like the lineup, I’d actually prefer Saka on the right and Pepe on the left, I seem to recall Pepe having a couple of good games there last season.
Maybe it will be…
Was really hoping Pepe would get a start today. Excited! Let’s bang in a few!
Well, this aged wonderfully.
Who’s “White”? And why has Ben White been dropped?
Benjamin White you mean?
It’s Bill.
Crystal Palace are there for the taking. COYG!!!
I hope that Pepe will perform well. Needs a good performance.
We are starting with a formidable set up with the likes of Smith,Martin and Nico. It promises to be a very good game
Feels like we haven’t played in ages.
Oh dear, Arteta walked into Viera’s armpit … talk about being overshadowed by the past at Arsenal!!!
Good for memes;) lets just hope for good memes
The inability to keep possession is very worrying. You could say it’s the system, but the same problem was evident against Brighton. I know we don’t want to hear it, but Xhaka is badly missed in that midfield.
It can’t be Xhaka as we dominated until we scored. Once we score we retreat. Done it against Norwich and Burnley, did it for 12 minutes against the scum after going one up and then caught em on break. Did it while of second half against scum. It’s on Arteta
With Pepe on it puts the rest of the front line off kilter, Saka looks better on the right for me, odegaard pushed back next to partey takes from his game as well. Auba looks up for it as does smith Rowe.
Saka on the left limits his game and diminishes the team’s efficiency. Unfortunately, Pepe does not play well on the left either. What a headache Arteta must be having
We don’t have a right-full back yet. Tomi needs some working😕
And Sambi and Partey
we are at the 🍌 🍉 🍎
When I saw the live blog I thought, hope we get to half time with the lead in tact and regroup!! I then thought, this will probably end 2-1 to palace, just had that feeling of doom!! Why can’t Arteta get more out of these players because, on paper, we are better than most teams but this rate it’ll be relegation!!!
I see Viera has imparted his aggression on this Palace team, we being bullied
Pepe is fucking woeful to watch
I’ve never seen him have a good game. Beyond the odd goals, he is utterly woeful
He’s another Gervinho can’t dribble can’t cross absolute shite
Agreed, he’ll have to be sold in the summer and replaced, but we would likely have to take a hit of a 75% loss. Who would pay more than 20 million for him.
How do people still call for a Pepe start?
Thst was a shocking display giving awsy possession. No movement up front no on field leadership things have to change
The headline turned out to be highly misleading. Incredibly boring football.