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Giroud & Wilshere Out: How Arsenal Should Line-Up Against Chelsea

By on August 1, 2015

petr cech arsenal

Arsenal will be looking to make a statement of intent when we take on Premier League champions Chelsea in the Community Shield at Wembley tomorrow afternoon.

It’s supposed to be a ‘friendly’ curtain raiser to the new season but with Jose Mourinho involved, nothing is ‘friendly’ so I hope Arsene Wenger puts our strongest team out.

Here is the side I’d go with:

Goalkeeper: Cech

Petr Cech looks set to face his former side for the first time since making the move across London and it’s a great opportunity for him to show Mourinho what he’s lost.

Defence: Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs

I think it’s safe to say Mertesacker and Koscielny will continue as our first choice centre-back pairing, for now at least, but it’s going to be interesting to see who starts the season in the full-back spots.

Bellerin was superb during the second half of last season and I would like to see him continue at right-back. Debuchy has been unlucky with his injuries but he has to earn the right to take the shirt from the young Spaniard.

On the other side, Monreal is perhaps favourite to retain the left-back slot after his impressive form last year but I’d personally like to see Gibbs start.

Midfield: Coquelin, Cazorla

Everyone seems to want us to sign a new holding midfielder but it’s easy to forget just how many options we already have – when everyone is fit. Wilshere and Ramsey are both pushing for starts in the middle but I don’t see how the boss can break-up the Cazorla-Coquelin axis that served us so well during the second half of last season.

Attack: Ramsey, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain

Rambo was forced to play out wide during the run-in and I have a feeling he might start the new season on the right once again. Ramsey’s too good to leave out but I don’t see how he can start in the middle. It’s a problem for Wenger, but a nice one to have.

Ozil is guaranteed to start in the No.10 role while I think we might see The Ox start with Sanchez still unavailable.

Striker: Walcott

Giroud hasn’t looked up to speed in pre-season yet while Walcott has been sharp, so I’d go with Theo up top. He should be buzzing after signing his new deal and his pace will cause Terry/Cahill problems more than the physicality of Giroud.

This would be my team:

It’s tricky to predict how Arsene will line-up as we have plenty of options in various positions now, and it will get even more complicated when Welbeck and Sanchez return, but that’s the side I’d put out.

Let’s hope for a good performance and hopefully Wenger can finally get one over that loud-mouth Portuguese tw*t.

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