Jeorge Bird
‏@jeorgebird

Koscielny and Maitland-Niles in full training. Nketiah trained with first-team.

A bit annoying our kick off is at the same time as the united/pool game.

I would keep a similar team to the one that played Bate but Torreira for Guendouzi, Laca for Auba and AMN for Lichtenstein.

We tend to get over the line v saints at home but the games are always fairly tough

Sokratis has to start, if 100%.

Yes Sokratis has to start.

Really hope Emery doesn't resort to 3 at the back with Guendouzi, Torreira and Xhaka all starting in the middle

I, for one, welcome the undeserved apathy that Emery seems to have generated among certain sections of the Arsenal faithful and tabloid press.

We're only one point off the Top 4 places. I'd be happy enough quietly going through the business end of the season without any undue attention. We stand to collect quite a lot of points from our final run of games if we can keep it together at the back.

If Ozil and both strikers play then 3-4-1-2 is the best option, imo.
If Ozil doesn't play then 4-3-3 has to be the way to go.

Got a feeling we will see both Laca and Auba playing, 3 at the back and the two wing backs

I feel like too many us us are underating our chances. I think if we're still in/close to top 4 after the 10th March/ I'd have us as favourites

comment by Lacazade and Coca Kola (U10303)
posted 6 seconds ago
I feel like too many us us are underating our chances. I think if we're still in/close to top 4 after the 10th March/ I'd have us as favourites
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Man Utd are rightfully favourites at the moment, imo. But they are hitting their hardest run under Ole, and that should shake them up a bit.
As Gillespie said, it is probably better to be under the radar.

Problem for us is that our away record is extremely poor. Every game is a huge challenge. For the last 2 years it's probably the worst out of the top 6.

We will probably lose away to Spurs (not beaten a top 6 team away from since 2015) and all the other away games are 50/50. We still have to go to Wolves, Leicester and Burnley.

As for Emery, a lot of the negativity and criticism is self inflicted to a certain degree. If we don't get Cl football, the season is a failure for me and questions on his management have to be asked.

We are a big facking club. Thinking that ending up in 5th or 6th is acceptable is bs for me

If we don't get Cl football, the season is a failure for me and questions on his management have to be asked.
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CL was always a tough task this season. This is more a season for starting change, next season will be when I expect noticeable improvement.

Of course questions have to be asked, that is true whether we get CL or not.

Finishing 5th or 6th is not necessary acceptable, but it is understandable this season. The change was more than just a manager, it was a change of a man who ran the club for over a decade. The changes have extended to behind the scenes, and it is not a quick fix.

Anyone calling for Emerys head after one season is, imo, seriously deluded.

For the football has to improve. Not sure it's to do with the lack of quality, tactics or selection but the brand of football displayed over the last few months has been difficult to watch.

Creativity, chances created, possession are all down

For *me

The football will improve when he has players who suit his style. The Ramsey and Ozil situations have been a massive drain on the attacking front, plus the lack of wide players and the defensive injuries.

Don't want to get too carried away but if we do beat Southampton and Bournemouth, and if Spurs draw against Chelsea, we would go into the North London Derby 5 points behind Spurs, beating Spurs would then put us 2 points behind Spurs! of course beating Spurs away would be a massive ask considering our form against the top 6 way from home but with it being a Derby anything could happen! need to focus on getting the win tommorow first though!

Even if we miss out on CL football, us finishing within a decent shout of top 4 isn’t a bad start for emery. Of course as a club we should be aiming much higher but for a first season with a new manager after so long with wenger, it’s not awful.

End of next season will be a much better judge of the manager and where we are heading as a club

The most frustrating thing is we are perfectly poised to finish 4th maybe even 3rd. The football desperately needs to improve. It's like they need a creative person to come in temporarily to remind them how to play nice football, we had the perfect mix at start of season with Emery discipline and Wenger creativity still there

Pick up momentum and (despite the nonsense about this being a poor squad) we have the players to go on another run. If we somehow beat spurs we will finish above them. They still have Liverpool and City away

Please Emery, forgoe your ego and play Ozil and stop this distracting nonsense. Its the business end now

Auba and Ozil both benched, thought one of them would start.

19Leno
12Lichtsteiner
20Mustafi
5Papastathopoulos
31Kolasinac
11Torreira
34Xhaka
17Iwobi
8Ramsey
7Mkhitaryan
9Lacazette

Not a bad team. Would have preferred to have seen Ozil in there but decent team

Can Mkhi score in a game we win.

comment by 8bit (U2653)
posted 15 minutes ago
Auba and Ozil both benched, thought one of them would start.

19Leno
12Lichtsteiner
20Mustafi
5Papastathopoulos
31Kolasinac
11Torreira
34Xhaka
17Iwobi
8Ramsey
7Mkhitaryan
9Lacazette
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Makes sense to wrap Aubameyang in cotton wool for the next leg of the Europa.

It's a good team considering

comment by Giröulski Alt-153 and Alt-160 forever (U14971)
posted 5 minutes ago
comment by 8bit (U2653)
posted 15 minutes ago
Auba and Ozil both benched, thought one of them would start.

19Leno
12Lichtsteiner
20Mustafi
5Papastathopoulos
31Kolasinac
11Torreira
34Xhaka
17Iwobi
8Ramsey
7Mkhitaryan
9Lacazette
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Makes sense to wrap Aubameyang in cotton wool for the next leg of the Europa.
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To be fair Auba has been pretty invisible of late

Decent streams?