Arsenal take on Liverpool in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup this afternoon, and Arsene Wenger’s men will be seeking revenge and look to put the record straight after their 5-1 battering at Anfield a week ago.
The Gunners are still in the hunt for the Premier League title and are only three days away from their highly anticipated Champions League game against European champions Bayern Munich.
But the FA Cup poses Arsenal’s best chance of ending their eight year trophy drought, especially after seeing City knockout Chelsea yesterday, leaving the former the Gunners’ only real threat of coming out as winners. And for that reason, this particular Arsenal fan wants to see Wenger field out his best side this afternoon.
Our last game against United in mid-week saw Wenger make two changes and expect the Frenchman to make a lot more today with the Bayern clash on Wednesday night.
I personally would like to see Wenger take this competition seriously as it is one we can triumph in.
So here is the starting XI I hope to see him put out today:
Szczesny
Sagna Mertesacker Koscielny Gibbs
Flamini Wilshere
Gnabry Ozil Rosicky
Podolski
Thomas Vermaelen would’ve started this game for me in place of Per Mertesacker because he is more agile. But the Belgian is out with a knee problem, so the back four will have to remain the same.
Mathieu Flamini is back after his suspension and his tenacity in midfield has been sorely missed. Flamini should sit alongside Jack Wilshere as the French midfielder looks uncomfortable playing with Mikel Arteta.
In front of Flammers and Jack, I think the trio of Mesut Ozil, Serge Gnabry and Tomas Rosicky would be an excellent blend of creativity, speed and power. I would like to see Rosicky play on the left wing as he loves to cut in and create, as well as track back when needed. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain hasn’t impressed me recently, so if Gnabry is fit then I think the German should be picked ahead of him as he would cause Liverpool’s defence all sorts of problems with his pace and power.
Olivier Giroud has been very poor as of late and hasn’t found the back of the net in the last three games he’s played him. He looks tired and missed sitters against United which proved he is in need of a prolonged rest. So I think it’s only right that Lukas Podolski is given a chance to lead the line and show us what he can do today.
Who’d be in your Arsenal XI to take on Liverpool?
Let us know your line-up below
Im sure most Liverpool fans would gladly take a loss today,the distraction of the FA Cup isn’t needed or wanted by Liverpool.Liverpool’s full concentration should be fixed on TOP 4 and Champions League football next season.And Spurs really worry me,they aren’t playing well but still sit only 3 points behind us ;-( Should be a great end to the season 😉
Would love to see Wenger really shake things up, and not because I think we need to focus on the Bayern (I mean, who are we fooling? I’d bite your hand off for a creditable exit with no new injuries) but because the team has stagnated.
Note I said stagnated, not slipped up, not faltered, but stagnated. Week in week our we have looked laboured, even in victory, and this is draining the belief out of the team. Forget the ‘Helleven days’, our next 3 league games are very winnable, but if we have to probe and wait for over an our to break the deadlock each time, come the second leg our our nightmare run of fixtures, we will be completely out of steam.
I say lets have a real go, give the Ox and Gnabry free reign on the flanks (Flamini can provide the cover for this), give Podolski a dart in the middle and who knows? Maybe the shakles will come off, maybe we will go in at half time against Sunderland at 2-0 instead of 0-0. And if that happens we can start to relax, throw Zelalem or Bendtner on for half an hour, give Ozil a rest and let Carzola play behind the striker, hell we could even put Sanogo on maybe he’ll get some press coverage that isn’t a reference to Arsenal’s transfer policy (how many times time we read ‘only Yaya Sanogo’ this summer?
I’m not saying its a miracle cure, and I would definitely like our strongest team back in place for the Chelsea, Tottenham and City games, but am I the only one who is desperate fro Arsenal to be exciting again?
we need striker arsene wenger striker like fabio borini,lius suarez