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3-4-1-2: Koscielny & Ramsey start | Arsenal’s strongest line-up to face Fulham

By on December 31, 2018

Arsenal have to get back to winning ways following our Liverpool horror-show when we take on Fulham at the Emirates on Tuesday afternoon. This is the line-up I’d like Unai Emery to select…

Goalkeeper: Leno

Leno may have conceded five goals at Anfield and any goalkeeper will be disappointed after such a score-line but he wasn’t the core problem at the weekend. The German certainly needs to find his best form again but I’d stick with him for now.

Defence: Koscielny, Sokratis, Mustafi

We’ve gone with a back four recently but I’d revert to a three against Fulham. It looks like Monreal is unlikely to be fit tomorrow so Koscielny could come in to start after being named on the bench against Liverpool.

Sokratis had a poor game at Anfield but he’s been our best defender this season [which isn’t hard] and he should obviously keep his place against Fulham. Mustafi was woeful against Liverpool and he’s not good enough for Arsenal but with Holding out for the season, we’re going to have to rely on him for now.

Midfield: Kolasinac, Torreira, Xhaka, Maitland-Niles

A move to a back three means we can see the back of Lichtsteiner and hopefully we don’t see him again for a while as he’s been shocking in recent weeks. The soon-to-be 35-year-old simply can’t handle the pace of the Premier League and it’s safe to say he’s been a disappointing signing – even on a free transfer.

Maitland-Niles should start ahead of Lichtsteiner from now on, especially in the right wing-back role, while Kolasinac can start on the left and get back to bombing forward after a poor game at Anfield.

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Torreira needs a rest but we can give him a breather in the FA Cup game at the weekend so he should continue alongside Xhaka against Fulham tomorrow. Guendouzi and Elneny can be saved for the Blackpool game on Saturday.

Attack: Ramsey, Aubameyang, Lacazette

Ozil was once again left out of the squad against Liverpool, this time with a mystery knee injury that he supposedly picked up during the closing stages of Friday’s training session. It’s obvious there is an issue between Mesut and Emery and the boss isn’t keen to play him in tough away games. I get that, but it’s not good for Arsenal to be without our most creative player – even if he’s on the bench. The situation needs to be resolved, but I can’t see Ozil featuring tomorrow.

For me, we should play with Aubameyang and Lacazette together up front as Emery has to find a way to get them both in the team on a regular basis because Arsenal are a much more dangerous side with them playing.

Ideally Ozil would play behind them but that’s unlikely to happen so I’d go with Ramsey in the hole and have Iwobi on the bench. Mkhitaryan and Welbeck are obviously still injured so we may have to rely on the likes of Saka and Nketiah from the bench.

Here is the side I hope we’ll see:

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