Quantcast
Home   >   Opinions   >   Ozil out, Welbeck starts ni 4-3-3: My Arsenal XI vs Man City

Ozil out, Welbeck starts ni 4-3-3: My Arsenal XI vs Man City

By on March 31, 2017

Danny Welbeck

Arsenal desperately need to get our Premier League campaign back on track with a win when we entertain Manchester City at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.

This is the team I’d like to see Arsene Wenger go with….

Goalkeeper: Ospina

Unfortunately we don’t have much choice but to start Ospina this weekend as Cech has been ruled out for the next two games with a calf injury. I’m no Ospina fan and he showed how dodgy he is after being at fault for the crucial second goal at West Brom before the international break. Let’s hope he’s in better form on Sunday.

Defence: Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal

This is arguably our best defence and while I’d stick with these four on Sunday, they’ll need to play a lot better than they did at the Hawthorns as some of the defending was embarrassing.

Bellerin is easily our best right-back while Monreal is likely to get the nod over Gibbs – who might not be 100% fit following a foot injury.

Koscielny hasn’t looked himself in recent weeks and he wasn’t in good form for France either the other night. Fingers crossed it’s just a dip in form as we’ll have no chance of finishing in the top four if he isn’t at his best.

Mertesacker, Gabriel and Holding are all available but I think it’s safe to say Mustafi will line-up alongside Kos on Sunday and he’ll be looking to get back in form following some inconsistent displays.

Midfield: Xhaka, The Ox, Ramsey

The three-man midfield didn’t go to plan against West Brom but I think that was down to application rather than personnel so I’d like to see it given another go on Sunday.

We don’t have enough protection in front of the back four if we play just two in the middle with Ozil in the No.10 role and against City we’ll be asking for trouble if we go down that road, even at home.

So I’d like to see Xhaka sitting deep with Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ramsey just in front in the box-to-box roles as this should help us control the middle of the park and protect the defence, if they stay disciplined.

mesut ozil arsenal

Attack: Walcott, Sanchez, Welbeck

Ozil picked up yet another injury during the international break. This time it was a back complaint and he only managed to play the final 20 minutes for Germany last Sunday.

The playmaker hasn’t started in well over a month due to illness and injury so he can’t be in tip-top shape right now. As much as it pains me to say it, but I think we’d be better off with him on the bench against City this weekend.

Thankfully Sanchez didn’t suffer any serious injury when he was forced off against West Brom with an ankle problem and he played 180 minutes for Chile during the international break so he can start in attack.

Walcott was woeful against West Brom but so were most of his team mates so it wouldn’t be fair to single him out. For all his drawbacks, Theo is still a huge threat and I’d stick with him on the right wing.

Perez isn’t available as he’s still nursing a thigh injury but we’d still have the likes of Giroud and Iwobi to use from the bench along with Ozil.

This would be my line-up: