Morning all, it’s Premier League action today as we travel to Swansea to face Swansea in Swansea.
The manager has some decisions to make about his team, not least of which is who plays at right-back in the absence of Hector Bellerin who is still struggling with an ankle injury. While Ainsley Maitland-Niles might be used in the FA Cup it’s hard to see him get the nod today, so with Carl Jenkinson on the verge of a move to Crystal Palace and Mathieu Debuchy still injured, I suspect it’ll be Gabriel there.
That may have an impact on who plays on the right hand side of the front three too, because we’ve seen a not 100% natural right-back be given a torrid time by Swansea in the past. I just checked to see if Jefferson Montero, the man who twisted poor old Calum Chambers’s blood, was still there and he certainly is. However, he’s only started twice and has just one assist to him name which could mean he’s been playing terribly but there’s also that nagging fear that may just be fresh for today. Unless he’s injured. It’s all just so confusing.
The return of Mesut Ozil will mean a bit of a re-jig in midfield if, as expected the German starts. Alex Iwobi could shift to the right hand side with Alexis left, and I can’t see anything other than Olivier Giroud up front for this one. Theo Walcott is still sidelined with a calf problem, and as much as I’d like to see Alexis play centre-forward today, I think Giroud’s recent form and confidence will see him start.
Beyond that it’s hard to see any significant changes, and with two home games coming up against Burnley and then Watford, if we get this tricky away test out of the way successfully, we have a chance to get some points on the board ahead of that big game against Chelsea in early February.
Arsene Wenger says his team need to start the game more strongly, after the Preston and Bournemouth performances which left a lot to be desired on that front:
Ideally, we want to start strong and finish strong. Preston was a typical FA Cup game and always subconsciously when you come out of the Christmas period, you think it will be a bit easier in the FA Cup. It’s not.
Swansea are on their third manager of the season, and the players who failed to impress the previous two will be out to do the same today for Paul Clement. And by the same I mean different. It feels like we end up facing teams with new managers more than anyone else, and it always makes it that little bit more difficult.
Having not seen much of Clement as a head coach, it’s hard to know exactly how they’ll set up. On the one hand he must look at what teams like Burnley and West Brom did by sitting deep and frustrating us and think that’s a decent option, but then so too is the way Bournemouth played – very much on the front foot, causing us problems in our own half.
I guess we just have to be prepared for either eventuality, and ultimately the only thing we can truly master is our own performance. The first half against Preston was woeful, so too the opening 70 minutes against Bournemouth. Performances riddled with errors, ill-discipline and a lack of focus and concentration.
Those things shouldn’t be too difficult to get on top of, so hopefully we see a much improved Arsenal today, and if we do we have the attacking talent to take all three points.
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Elsewhere, bad news this morning about Santi Cazorla after the Spanish international appears to have undergone another procedure on his troublesome Achilles. It’s left Arsene Wenger fearful that his season is over:
Certainly he will not be available in the next six weeks, that is for sure. I hope he will be back this season but you have to count six weeks preparation and right now he’s not at that level.
Obviously we feel the impact of that as a team, but that’s the point of having a squad. As much as any team would miss a player like Santi Cazorla, you have to be able to deal with injuries during a season, even long-term ones.
This morning I just feel really sorry for him as an individual. You can see how much he loves to play every time he’s on the pitch, and to undergo this kind of chronic injury at this stage of his career is terrible. He’s not a 21 year old lad with lots of time to recover. He’s 32 now, and as you get older injuries take longer to heal, and have a more significant impact on you physically.
If the normally optimistic Arsene Wenger is fearful for his season, then I think it’d be a big surprise if we saw him again between now and May, and that’s a crying shame for him. All we can do is wish him good luck and hope that it’s not quite as serious as it sounds.
It also leaves the club with a big decision to make about his future. His contract expires this summer, although there is an option to extend for a year. If there are genuine fears about how this injury might impact him, will that then mean we don’t take that up – even if the manager seems inclined to do so? On the one hand it’d seem incredibly harsh, to just cast him off, but on the other that’s football, and sometimes those decisions have to be made for the benefit of the team as a whole.
Tough one. And get well soon Santi Cazorla.
We will have live blog coverage of the game for you later on, and all the post-match reports, player ratings and stats over on Arseblog News. Finally, if you haven’t had a chance to listen to this week’s Arsecast, check it out below. Catch you later for the game.
