Following the emphatic win over CSKA Moscow on Thursday, it’s expected for the manager to field a side capable of getting the goods against a struggling Southampton side but I believe rotation is imminent to keep the squad fresh. There are some decisions that are quite easy for Arsene Wenger with David Ospina’s groin injury ensuring that Petr Cech remains in goal today and certainly on Thursday.
I expect the boss to shake things up in defense. Sead Kolasinac is need of a game, and I believe Nacho Monreal deserves a breather today. With Laurent Koscielny still nursing his Achilles tendon injury, I’d expect him to sit today’s game with the likes of Calum Chambers or Rob Holding pairing with Skhodran Mustafi. Hector Bellerin will probably retain his place in the right fullback position.
I’d expect some shuffles in midfield with the likes of Mo Elneny making another case to stake a claim for first team football. Aaron Ramsey had such an amazing outing on Thursday and he’d want to build on that performance, so Granit Xhaka might be rested. Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s knee injury is likely to rule him out till the end of the season, so this offers the likes of Alex Iwobi and Danny Welbeck to feature consistently on one of the flanks, as well as showing the boss what they are capable of, so it would be a nice audition nonetheless.
With Arsenal’s Europa League slots more or less assured, a victory will be good for momentum as the Gunners have picked up a rich vein of form which is a stark contrast from how they started 2018 with a series of horrible losses that made everyone request for Arsene Wenger’s head on a plate. Let’s just hope the good form continues.
Sayonara
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