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Giroud & Wilshere Out: How Arsenal Should Line-Up vs Aston Villa

By on May 28, 2015

Theo Walcott Arsenal

The end of the season is upon us as Arsenal look to retain the FA Cup when we take on Aston Villa at Wembley on Saturday evening. This is the team I’d put out for the game…..

Goalkeeper: Szczesny

Arsene Wenger has given little away about who’ll start in goal but I think it would be harsh to dump Szczesny at this stage. He’s played in the previous rounds and let’s not forget Arsene left him out of last years final when he was No.1, so I don’t see why Ospina should come in this year.

Defence: Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs

Bellerin is almost a dead-cert to start at right-back as Debuchy has made just one start in over five months and that was in the semi-final when he looked well off the pace.

My choice at left-back would be Gibbs as I just think he offers more overall than Monreal. He’s played more in recent weeks too so I’d give the shirt to Gibbsy.

I don’t think there’s too much debate about who’ll start in the centre of defence as Koscielny and Mertesacker are nailed on to start.

Midfield: Cazorla, Coquelin.

The Cazorla/Coquelin partnership has been virtually ever-present in the middle of the park during the second half of the season and there’s no need to change things up now. Wilshere and Ramsey are both pushing for starts in the middle but this is our established pairing for now, so I’d stick with it.

It would be harsh on Jack, as he was excellent last week against West Brom, but he could be an important player to call upon from the bench if needed.

Attack: Ramsey, Ozil, Sanchez, Walcott

The big decision for Arsene is whether to start Walcott. There’s a strong argument he could play on the right-wing and bring Giroud back in up top, but that means we’d have to leave out Ramsey [or Cazorla].

Therefore, I’d personally keep Theo up front. You simply can’t leave out a player who’s just scored a hat-trick and I’d prefer to see Rambo in the eleven than Giroud, so I’d start him from the right-wing again. I’m not a huge fan of the Welshman out there but he’s done a decent job over the past few weeks.

Ozil and Sanchez should also start, obviously, so this is the team I’d put out:

We’d then have a strong bench with the likes of Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Rosicky, Gabriel, Monreal, Debuchy and Giroud to call upon if needed.

What would you do? What team would you put out?

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